A Summer to Remember
by chriswiss23
Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan’s halfbrother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer? Naley.
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys, this is my first story and I hope you like it. I'm sorry it's a little short. I have more written and this seemed to be the best stopping place. All reviews would be greatly appreciated!

_Summary Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer? Naley, with a little Brucas, and maybe Jeyton._

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 1**

Haley James looked up from the coffee she was pouring to see a group of three walk into Karen's Café and take a seat at one of the tables she was managing today. She sighed as she realized who it was and looked around desperately for one of the other waitresses to switch tables with her. She had no luck and slowly walked up to the two dark haired guys and blonde haired girl.

The simple task of waiting on a table should not be that hard, but it was when _they_ were the ones seated there. Haley was practically sworn enemies with them.

Nathan Scott was the captain of the basketball team, most popular guy in school, and the half-brother of one of her best friends, Lucas Scott. Their father, Dan, had never claimed Lucas and had abandoned his mother Karen when he found out she was pregnant, but had married Nathan's mother when she got pregnant a few months later.

"What can I get you this morning?" Haley asked with a fake smile on her face when she approached the table.

"I just want some coffee." The blonde girl said in a groggy voice.

Peyton Sawyer was never really a morning person. In fact, she hated being pulled away from her dreams to face the harsh reality of the world.

"I'll have pancakes and a coke." Nathan said without looking up. He knew that this girl was friends with Lucas and that made him loathe her. He didn't really have anything against her; she was just caught in the middle of the never ending war between him and his brother. He didn't know what that kid's problem was anyway. So Dan had chosen Nathan instead of him, it's over now, and besides, sometimes he felt like Lucas got the better end of the deal.

"I'll have what he's having." Tim said with a small grin.

"Ok, I'll be back with your orders shortly." Haley responded and quickly retreated to the safety of the kitchen.

"What's that chick's problem?" Tim asked in a mocking voice.

"She's friends with Lucas." Nathan answered coolly.

"Oh, that's too bad, because she's kind-of fine." Tim said as he stared off into the kitchen.

"Can you two keep it down please? You're practically screaming and I have a terrible hangover." Peyton spat from her seat as she put her sunglasses on.

"Whose fault is that Peyton?" Nathan laughed.

"I don't know, Tim, whose fault is it?" Peyton said as she stared with a blank face at Tim Smith.

"Peyton, I already apologized for putting vodka in your water bottle. What more do you want from me?" Tim was trying to hold in his laughter.

"Wait, Tim. You put vodka in Peyton's water bottle?" Nathan asked, confused.

"Yeah, it was crazy cool."

"Just say it was funny Tim," Peyton retorted, "even though it wasn't."

"Yeah, I have to agree with her on this one man. That prank is pretty lame." Nathan laughed as Tim pouted. "Anyway, I talked to the lady who owns that condo we want this summer. She said that she has one left and that if we want it we need to call her by the end of the day."

"I'm still confused. Why aren't we just staying at your parents' beach house this summer? It's sweet and we don't have to pay for it." Tim said.

"Because I don't need my parents or their money to have a good time." Nathan responded as Haley walked up with their drinks. "So, Peyton are you in?"

"Whatever." She said as she savored her coffee.

"I'll be back with your food in a little while." Haley mumbled and headed back towards the kitchen.

"Hey Tutor Girl!" Brooke said as she came up behind Haley and surprised her.

"Oh my Gosh! Brooke! I've told you a million times not to sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry. So guess what me and Lucas did this morning. I'll tell you, booked the condo."

"You what?" Haley responded.

"We booked that condo we were talking about. For the whole summer. And it's non refundable so you can't back out now."

"You're serious?" Haley questioned in a non-believing voice.

"Of course I'm serious. When you get off work, go home and pack. We leave tomorrow morning." Brooke winked and then walked out the door.

_What just happened? _Haley said inside her head. Apparently she was spending the summer in a beachfront condo with her two best friends. The only thing that worried her was what she had heard Nathan say when she brought their drinks, that they were also going to get a beachfront condo for the summer. _Who cares? As long as they are far away from us._

Haley walked back into the kitchen, picked up two plates of pancakes, and delivered them to Nathan and Tim. Then she took the rest of the day off to go home and pack.


	2. Chapter 2

Here's Chapter 2. I'm sorry this one is short too. They will get longer! Enjoy and please tell me what you think!

_Summary Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer? _

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 2**

The sun was shining bright as Nathan pulled his mustang convertible from Dan Scott Motors into the parking lot of the condo complex that was going to be his home for the next 3 months. It felt good to be away from his parents for the summer.

"This is going to be the best summer ever!" Tim shouted as he ran to the door marked with a big "10".

They had gotten a condo on the third floor. The two lower floors had 4 condos each on them, but the third only had two. Tim opened the door, walked in, and threw his bag into the middle of the kitchen floor.

Peyton walked in behind him. She was glad that she got to spend this summer with her friends and away from her usual life. Ever since her mom had passed away, she had had a really hard time having fun, and hoped that this summer would help her remember how. "Tim, if you're going to keep your crap on the floor this whole summer then I might as well just kill you now." She said annoyed.

Nathan walked in last. The first thing he noticed was the huge big screen TV in the corner. Paying a lot for this condo was so going to pay off. Nathan made his way towards one of the bedrooms and put his bag down on the queen sized bed.

"Nate, where am I going to sleep if you get one bedroom and Peyton gets the other one?" Tim asked confused.

"The couch," Nathan answered with a smirk.

"What! Come on man, that's not fair."

"Tim, you'll be able to stay up all night playing NBA live. Tell me how that's not fair?" Nathan knew that the one thing that could get Tim to sleep on a lumpy couch all summer was the promise of his favorite video game 24/7.

"Score! This summer's gonna rock!" Tim shouted as he got out the Playstation 2 he had packed and started setting it up.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Lucas Eugene Scott! This is so not funny!" Brooke yelled as she stared at the shack that they were parked in front of. "Please tell me you are kidding."

"Why? This place isn't good enough for you?" Lucas pretended to be hurt. Just then, one of the shutters fell from the side of the window.

"No! It's not!" Brooke screamed as Haley chuckled. She knew that this wasn't the real condo. "I would sooner die then spend my entire summer living in that cardboard box!"

"Ok, fine." Lucas laughed. "The real place is about 10 minutes away." Both Lucas and Haley started laughing hysterically and Brooke hit them both on the shoulder.

Then minutes later, Lucas pulled his 1998 Jeep into a much nicer parking lot next to a black convertible. Brooke instantly hopped out, grabbed her purse, and skipped up to the condo on the third floor that was going to be their home for the summer.

"Ok, I guess I'll take her suitcase up." Lucas said sarcastically as he grabbed his bag and a few of Brooke's. Brooke had seriously over packed; it looked as if she had packed everything in her closet as well as everything in her mom's. He picked them up and started the long hike to the third floor.

By this time, Haley was out of the car as well and searching through the trunk for her bag underneath the rest of Brooke's. "Finally," she said when she found it and yanked on the handle. It didn't budge so she rearranged some of Brooke's bags and gave it one more hard pull. To her surprise, it came out right away, causing her to fall backwards on her butt. _Wow. I hope no one saw that, _she thought.

Haley started walking towards the building, but decided that she should probably grab a few of Brooke's bags so Lucas wouldn't have to make so many trips to get them all.

Meanwhile, Brooke was already settled in and watching TV on the couch when Lucas entered condo number 9.

"Hey Broody, what took you so long?" Brooke asked with a grin.

"I was bringing up 3 of your 5 suitcases." He replied in an amused tone.

"Oh, sorry. Sometimes I forget that this summer I won't have a butler or anything." She laughed. This summer was going to be a whole new experience for her. She was very used to being rich, and popular, and basically lazy. She never really had to do anything for herself…ever. She was looking at these next few months as a chance to prove to herself and the world that she could do it.

"That's ok. I'll go get your other stuff after I take a look at that view." He said as he opened a sliding door and stepped out onto a covered balcony. A few seconds later he was joined by Brooke and they just stood there looking out at the ocean.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, thank you to everyone who gave me some feedback! Here's chapter 3, and as promised, it is a little longer. Enjoy and please review!

P.S. My little brother told me that he would get me some ice cream if I put him in the story, so he's in it, randomly, you'll see.

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing but the storyline... 

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 3**

"Have you guys seen my wallet?" Nathan asked as he searched through the clothes that he had pulled out of his bag and put on the bed.

"No." Peyton and Tim replied.

"Great. I must have left it in the car." He said to himself as he opened to door and headed for the stairs. As he walked down the hall, he saw someone headed directly at him with about 3 oversized bags piled up above her head. The bags looked really heavy and she was having some serious difficulties walking down the hall.

Just as he was about to ask if she needed any help, she lost her balance and started to topple over. Luckily, Nathan's basketball training had helped him achieve pretty good reflexes and he rushed forward and caught the girl just as she was about to hit the floor.

"Let me help you with that." Nathan insisted as he grabbed two of the bags and helped her up.

"Thanks. My condo is right there, number ni-." She was cut short when she realized who it was that had just helped her up and offered to carry her bags. Obviously he had just realized who she was too because he was staring at her with confusion in his dark blue eyes. Without saying anything, Nathan carried her bags down the short hallway and set them by the door.

"Thanks again." Haley said shyly.

"No problem." Nathan answered and continued quickly towards the stairs.

What had just happened? Haley James, his enemy was staying in condo 9. That was an expensive 2 bedroom apartment. There was no way she was able to pay for that herself. Which meant…Lucas. Damn it. Lucas in the condo right across from his all summer, how could this happen?

* * *

_That was the most awkward moment of my entire life,_ she thought as she finally entered into her home for the summer. Nathan had surprised her. She had always thought of him as a cold hearted jerk, but she had just seen him offer help to someone he thought he didn't know. And then they had realized who the other was…awkward. She still couldn't believe that Nathan was here. Why was he here? Haley remembered the conversation she had overheard at the café and knew that Nathan, Tim, and Peyton were undoubtedly staying here too. How could this happen?

She walked over to a large glass door leading onto the balcony and saw Lucas and Brooke standing out there talking. It was so obvious that Brooke liked Lucas. To everyone except Lucas that is. She opened the door and joined them.

"There you are. We've already been up here for like 15 minutes." Brooke giggled.

"I was bringing up _your_ bags." Haley replied coolly. "Oh, and Luke, guess who's here?"

"Who?" He asked while still looking out at the ocean and the dark clouds on the horizon.

"Nathan."

"Here? How do you know?" Lucas looked at her for the first time since she had come up.

"Let's just say I ran into him." Haley was now staring out at the dark blue waves.

"Great," Lucas said sarcastically. "We've only been here for a few hours and a storm is already brewing."

Haley didn't know if he was speaking symbolically or literally because the clouds certainly seemed to foreshadow a very nasty storm indeed.

* * *

"Lucas? Are you serious?" Peyton laughed as she stuffed her hand into a bag of chips, pulled a few out, and ate them. She had always thought that this feud between the brothers was entirely childish and unnecessary. In fact, she even found it comical at times.

"It's not funny Peyton." Nathan said annoyed. "This kid's going to ruin our whole summer."

"Nate's right. Nothing good could possibly come from this terrible and entirely unforeseeable coincidence." Tim added trying to use big words to sound smart.

"Just say this sucks, Tim." Nathan responded as he dug into his pocket for the wallet that he had retrieved from his car.

At that moment, a stranger threw open the door and ran in screaming "I'm a power ranger! Bow down to me!"

"What the hell? Who are you?" Peyton screamed.

"I am Brad, the red ranger." The red-headed boy said seriously. "Who needs to be saved?"

Nathan and Tim started laughing hysterically. Why did this loser just barge into their room wearing a full power ranger costume? This was too good. Where were the hidden cameras?

"Dude, the psycho person hospital is down the street." Tim laughed. Peyton and Nathan shot him looks that said 'you're an idiot'.

"On my danger sensor it said someone was seriously injured here." Brad justified while casting a glance down at a gadget on his wrist, apparently it was his 'danger sensor'.

"Are you kidding me? Who paid you to do this?" Nathan laughed.

"No one, I do it for the greater good." Brad explained as his 'danger sensor' broke in half and fell to the floor. "Oh no!" Brad picked up the two plastic pieces off the floor and ran out the door.

"That was so freaky that it made me want to eat pickles with mustard on them." Tim laughed.

"Just say it was weird, Tim." Nathan responded while a small smile crept across his face. That was the most random thing that had ever happened in his life.

"Remind me to lock that door." Peyton said aloud. "Anyway, how do you know that Lucas is here?" She questioned, returning to their original subject.

"I, um, saw one of his friends in the hall, so I'm just assuming he's here." Nathan responded as he opened the fridge and grabbed a coke.

"Was it the hot brown haired one?" Tim asked hopefully.

"No, the one that works at Karen's." Nathan popped open the can and took a large drink.

"Oh, the one with a smokin' ass?" Tim asked seriously.

"Why do you always do that?" Peyton yelled. "Why do you always label girls by their bodies? It's not right!" Peyton stomped into her room and slammed the door.

"PMS," Tim stated matter-of-factly as Nathan set his can on the counter and went into his room, completely ignoring Tim's ignorant comments.

* * *

"So, spill about Nathan." Brooke said to Haley as she opened the largest of her five suitcases and started hanging clothes up in the closet.

"I already told you." Haley responded simply as she folded a pair of jeans and put them into one of her designated dresser drawers. Brooke and Haley had decided to just share a room for the summer instead of one of them having to sleep on the couch. They were both tiny and sharing a queen bed would be no problem, the biggest inconvenience was the storage space. With all the stuff Brooke had packed, Haley only ended up with half of a dresser while Brooke got the other half and the whole closet.

"No you didn't. You just mumbled something vague and moved on." Brooke pointed out.

It was true; she hadn't really gone into much detail about the whole event, mostly because it was a little embarrassing. I mean, she randomly fell down while walking straight down a flat hallway, how much more of a klutz could she be? "It's not really important. I saw him, the end." Haley said quickly.

"Ok, so something embarrassing definitely happened." Brooke concluded.

_Darn it. Why does she have to know me so well?_ Haley thought. "Fine, I was carrying two of your dumb suitcases and I lost my balance." She confessed.

"Wait, that still doesn't explain how you saw 'The Evil One.'" Brooke said, a little confused.

"Well, before I knew who he was, he offered to help me carry some of the bags. That's when I fell…He just helped me up, that's when we actually saw each other, and he took your two bags over to the door and then left. That's pretty much it."

"Wait, he actually carried your bags even after he knew who you were? Weird." Brooke stated as she officially ran out of closet space. "Darn, I guess I'm going to have to borrow some of Lucas's closet space."

Haley chuckled softly. The truth was, Brooke had asked the same question she had been asking herself for the past 20 minutes. Why would Nathan help his enemy? Maybe he wasn't that terrible of a person after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews! They always put me in a good mood and make me want to update faster. So, here's chapter 4. Enjoy!

_Disclaimer:_ I own nothing…although I wouldn't mind owning James Lafferty

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 4**

"Lucas, we're going to the beach. Do you want to come?" Brooke asked hopefully. By this time, all three of them had thoroughly unpacked.

"I don't know, Brooke. I think I might just stay up here for a while." He responded as he flipped the channel on the TV to the Duke vs. UNC game.

"Is this about Nathan? Luke, you can't just stay inside and avoid him all summer." She pointed out.

"I can try." Lucas mumbled as Brooke gave him a disapproving look. "Brooke! The guy is a nightmare! You can't honestly think that if we just talked we would become best friends."

"I don't. I just think that you can't let him ruin our whole summer." She said simply. "Please come with us to the beach, Lucas." Brooke pleaded as she unleashed her puppy dog eyes. "We need you there in case some of those hot shirtless lifeguards start to get inappropriate."

"Oh, so I'm nothing more than a bodyguard for you?" He joked.

Brooke laughed as she searched through her beach bag for her designer sunglasses. "Please? I'll be your best friend."

"Brooke, you already are one of my best friends." He laughed in return as he picked her sunglasses up off of the table and handed them to her.

"Thank you. And you will so not be my best friend anymore if you don't come with us." She pouted.

"Brooke, are you ready to go?" Haley asked as she finally emerged from the bathroom after taking 20 minutes to apply her sunscreen.

"I'm ready, but I don't want to go if Broody isn't going." She replied coyly.

Lucas sighed and threw his hands up in the air. "Fine! I'll go. Just let me change."

"Yea!" Brooke clapped as Lucas retreated into his bedroom and shut the door.

"Wow, I'm impressed. You got him to leave the condo even with big bad Nathan on the loose. Nice work." Haley picked up her beach bag and threw a towel over her shoulder.

"It's all part of my charm." She winked.

* * *

"Man, I hate the beach." Tim proclaimed as he, Nathan, and Peyton walked the worn path between their condo and the beautiful blue ocean that lay beyond. 

"What are you talking about idiot? How can you not like the beach?" Peyton asked, annoyed. All Tim ever did was get on her nerves.

"Think about it. I have to walk on the hot sand, and it burns my little toes," Nathan and Peyton stopped walking and gave him weird looks. "And there are a bunch of hot girls prancing around in bikinis, but we're not allowed to even look at them for a long time or we'll be, like, sent to jail."

"Whatever, Tim." Nathan said as he flashed his famous Scott smirk.

The group finally reached the end of the secluded trail and walked out into the open air and hot sand. Tim immediately dropped his towel and ran into the water. "Loser." Peyton mumbled.

Nathan's eyes scanned the beach to make sure a certain person was nowhere in sight. Unfortunately, a certain girl caught his eye. She had her back to him and her soft blonde curls fell just above the strap of her light blue bikini. Nathan was momentarily mesmerized by this girl he had never seen before, and Nathan Scott was not the type of guy to be mesmerized.

After a few seconds the girl turned around and Nathan's breath caught in his throat for two reasons. This was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, but she also happened to be Haley James, his _brother_'s best friend. Nathan quickly looked away as thoughts ran wildly through his head. _If she's here, where's Lucas? How could I actually think **she**_ _looks good? Why have I never noticed her before?_

Nathan was torn from his thoughts as Peyton tapped him on the shoulder. "Look who's here," She pointed over next to Haley to a pretty brunette laughing hysterically about something and the blonde guy sitting next to her. Lucas.

"Great. Let the fun begin." He responded sarcastically.

"I know this is, like, weird for you, Nate, but maybe if you ignore him, he'll ignore you?" She suggested as she removed her slightly tacky yellow cover up to reveal her black one-piece with a skull and crossbones on it.

"I don't think so. Wow, nice bathing suit." He said playfully.

"Shut up! It was on sale at Hot Topic!" She defended herself as she watched a dark-haired guy about her age helping a little girl build a sandcastle. He seemed somewhat familiar and Peyton caught herself staring when Nathan waved his hand in front of her face to regain her attention. "So, do you want to build a sandcastle?" She said suddenly.

"What? Are you serious?" Nathan was a little confused.

"No." She said, slightly annoyed that he practically made fun of her for just wanting to build a freaking sandcastle. It was a beach for God's sake, what else was there to do?

"What's taking you so long?" Tim yelled as a wave crashed down on his head.

"I'll race you in." Nathan said as he pulled off his Duke t-shirt.

"Ok, last one in is a rotten egg."

"Fine, on your mark…" Nathan began. "Get set…" Before he got to 'go' he took off running towards the ocean and was already next to Tim by the time Peyton arrived.

"That is so not fair! You cheated you ass!" Peyton joked as Nathan dunked her under the water.

* * *

"I can't believe that that son of a –" Lucas began before Haley cut him off. 

"You mean Nathan?"

"Yeah, that's exactly who I'm talking about, Hales. It's one thing to ruin my summer by staying in the condo right across the hall from me, but to come to the beach at the same time as me just to get under my skin, that's just annoying." Lucas fumed.

"Luke, I seriously doubt that Nathan purposely came out her just to get on your nerves." Brooke laughed.

"Well, I wouldn't put anything past him. Remember that time freshman year when he pushed so I fell into the toilet and then told everyone that I peed in my pants? Or the when we were sophomores and he told the whole school that I slept with Ms. Eknem, the lesbian anatomy teacher, and that I was the reason she 'switched teams'? Oh, and what about the time-"

"Lucas, we get it. Nathan has done some pretty awful things to you in the past." Haley rationalized. "But you've done some harsh things to him too."

"Yeah, like the time you wrote a sappy love note to Peyton, signed Nathan's name, and then had it read on the announcements." Brooke chimed in as Lucas laughed a little at the memory. "And the time you stuffed his locker with tampons, and when you-"

"But Brooke, he starts it every time! Everything I do to him is just revenge!" Lucas said defensively.

"Luke, we're not saying he's a good guy, because he's not, we're just saying that this chain is going to have to end sometime. Maybe you should just take the high road and ignore one of his childish pranks, then maybe he'll stop." Haley said as she applied yet another coat of sunscreen onto her face.

"Hales, we've only been out here for 10 minutes and you are already putting on more sunscreen?" Brooke asked.

"I have delicate skin!" She defended herself. "Well, I can't go into the water for another 10 minutes, so, who wants to build a sandcastle?"

"Are you serious?" Lucas asked with a little laugh.

"Of course I am. Who doesn't like to build sandcastles?" She responded enthusiastically.

"Me." Brooke said as she raised her hand slightly and received a soft shove from her friend. "But you two, go ahead. I need to work on my tan anyway."

"Will you please help me Lucas?" Haley asked as she stuck out her bottom lip and imitated the same puppy dog eyes Brooke had used earlier.

"Why do you guys keep using those things on me?" He more than a little frustrated that they both knew that he couldn't stand it when anyone looked at him that way.

"Because it works." Brooke said as she laid down on the towel that she had just unfolded.

"Fine, I'll build a stupid sandcastle with you."

"Yea!" Haley said as she clapped her hands excitedly. "Now, go fill this with water." She handed him a little pink bucket that was obviously meant to be carried by a 5 year old.

"Why can't you do it?" He whined.

"Because of my sunscreen," she replied simply. That was a dumb excuse, but she didn't want to be the one walking around with a tiny pink bucket, she hated the color pink.

"Ugh, the things I do for you." He said dramatically before walking away.

As he approached the light blue water of the ocean, he saw Nathan, Tim, and Peyton out diving through waves. _Just don't look at him and maybe he won't notice you,_ Lucas told himself. If Nathan saw him with this little pink bucket, his life would be officially over.

Lucky for him, Nathan seemed to be thoroughly engrossed in his game of 'push Peyton under the wave' and didn't seem to notice that his half-brother was only a few yards away. Lucas quickly filled the bucket up and started to retreat to where Haley and Brooke were waiting. _Home free,_ he sighed in his head.

Just then he felt a sharp sting on his big toe and looked down to see a large red crab attached to it. "Oh my God!" He yelled as he ran out of the water and started shaking his whole leg furiously in an attempt to get the creature to let go.

Nathan looked up at the commotion to see his wimp of a brother doing some kind of a dance on the beach while clinging to a little pink bucket. Wow.

"Oh my God, is that Lucas?" Peyton said loudly after emerging from below a wave to see a blonde-haired boy running around like crazy while carrying a pink bucket that she was pretty sure her 3 year old cousin owned.

"Yup," Nathan said smugly. He always enjoyed when Lucas was completely humiliated.

"Why the hell is he carrying that little girl bucket?" Peyton asked with a laugh.

"Hey! That is not a girl bucket, I have the same one." Tim said as a large wave knocked him over and dunked him under the water. Peyton just rolled her eyes.

"Oh my God! He's making a sandcastle with his little friends." Peyton taunted. She felt a bit hypocritical about saying that since she had, in fact, wanted to build her own sandcastle, but she also wanted to make Nathan laugh. He was like a big brother to her and she often found herself wanting to impress him.

Peyton continued pointing and laughing at Lucas and his 'little friends' but Nathan was focused on a girl, Haley James. At that moment she was filling a bright yellow bucket with sand and creating a large hole in the process. Normally, Nathan would have made fun of a 17 year old building a sandcastle, that's how he got to be king of the school, boosting himself up while putting others down, but not this time. He almost found it endearing the way she seemed so carefree and innocent.

What was wrong with him? Nathan Scott didn't think things like that, and he definitely didn't think them about Haley James, his brother's best friend.

"Yo, Nate, I think I'm getting a rash from all of this salt water, lets go up to the pool." Tim said as he forced Nathan from his thoughts.

"Yeah, whatever." He replied mechanically, never taking his eyes off of Haley. He just couldn't figure her out, she seemed so different from every other girl he'd ever met, or even seen. He followed Tim and Peyton out of the water, passed a dead red crab, grabbed his t-shirt and towel, and walked with them up to the pool that the condo complex owned.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews! They make my day. So here's the next chapter. Enjoy and please review!

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own One Tree Hill or its characters…but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to. :)

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 5**

"I can't believe a crab actually bit you!" Brooke exclaimed as soon as the three had re-entered their condo. They have left right after Lucas' little display.

"It didn't bite me, Brooke. It latched on to my freakin toe." Lucas removed his sandals and gently rubbed his red and swollen big toe.

"Did it hurt? I mean, what does it feel like to actually have a crab attached to your foot?" Haley said jokingly as she handed him an ice pack she had retrieved from the freezer.

"Ok, you two are having way too much fun with this. Don't you even care that I was completely humiliated?"

"Well, it was pretty hilarious." Brooke answered with a wide smile that showed her dimples. Haley always noticed when Brooke smiled this way because she only did it when she was with Lucas, but apparently Lucas never noticed.

"It was so far from funny. Did you see Nathan and his friends staring at me?"

"Why do you care what Nathan thinks so much?" Haley suddenly asked.

Lucas had to think about that for a minute, why did he care? "I don't." He said quickly. It was the truth, he really didn't care what Nathan thought, but somewhere deep down he did care what Dan thought. He had always wanted to show Dan what he missed when he abandoned Karen, sometimes unconsciously and sometimes openly. "I just don't like it when he stares at me and laughs."

"No, I think that was Peyton Sawyer. I saw her pointing and laughing." Brooke said simply.

"Yeah, well, I don't care if Peyton Sawyer wants to stare at me as long as I get to stare at her in return." Lucas joked.

"Eww, gross," Haley laughed.

"Why would you want to look at her?" Brooke asked a slightly more serious tone than Lucas and Haley would have expected. "I mean, she's all emo and she's a slut." She added with a grin.

"Wait, how do you know she's a slut?" Lucas questioned. Haley decided to stay out of this one, she knew that Brooke was just trying to cover her jealousy with insults.

"Um, because she's hooked up with like half of the guys at school." Brooke responded as if that were common knowledge.

"Oh, and how do you know that?" He laughed. Brooke's face flashed an expression of hurt for a moment before returning to the playful grin. Why did Lucas care so much about what she said about Peyton?

"Is your toe feeling better yet?" Haley asked, quickly changing the subject as Brooke gave her a thankful look.

"Yeah, a little. I think I'm going to watch some TV or something, but you guys can go hit the pool or something if you want to."

"Great idea. Let's go Haley." Brooke grabbed Haley by the arm and practically dragged her out of the condo.

"See you later." Lucas called as the door shut behind them.

* * *

"Ok, what the hell was that about Brooke?" Haley asked in a light and playful tone. 

"I just needed to get out of there. It got all weird after he talked about Peyton, the queen of whores." Brooke said as the two girls walked down the hall towards the steps.

"When are you going to just tell him?" Haley asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Brooke said quickly.

"Yes you do. When are you going to tell Lucas that you like him?" Haley clarified as they started descending the first of three flights of stairs.

"Tutor Girl, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Lucas and I are just friends-" She stopped when she saw the look Haley was giving her, the one that said 'I'm not buying it'. "What am I going to do Haley? I mean, it's totally obvious that he doesn't think about me in that way, and I just don't want to ruin our friendship."

"I know Brooke, but what if you never tell him and then he falls for someone else, like Peyton?" Haley questioned. Truth be told, Haley didn't know what she would do if she were in Brooke's situation. Thank God she didn't love her best friend, at least not in that way.

Before Brooke could answer, they came to the large gate that surrounded the pool area. There were large bushes surrounding the fence that enclosed the pool and lounge chairs to provide privacy for the guests at the condos, a benefit that Brooke had been very happy about. Now she wouldn't feel as weird when sunbathing topless.

Haley reached out and pushed the gate open…

* * *

"Don't you dare," Peyton said without even looking up from her magazine. The group had made it up to the pool where Nathan and Tim had immediately started playing water basketball and Peyton had laid out on a nearby lounge chair to try and bring some color onto her snow white skin. 

"I wasn't going to do anything." Tim said sheepishly as he stopped himself with his arm in midair from throwing the basketball at her.

Nathan took this slight distraction as an opportunity and effortlessly grabbed the ball from Tim's hand and tossed in into the floating basket. "Game," He proclaimed.

"Nate, come on man, that was so unfair!" Tim interjected.

"You snooze you lose, Tim. What can I say, I've beat you in the past five games, you are never going to win against me." Nathan responded as that famous Scott smirk crept across his face.

"Peyton, tell him that we have to have a rematch." Tim whined.

"I would if I cared, Tim." She said coolly.

"Hey, I'm going to run upstairs and get a drink, do you guys want anything?" Nathan asked as he got out of the pool, not even bothering to dry off with a towel because it was so hot out.

"Yeah, can I have a beer?" Tim asked.

"Tim, why do you have to be such an idiot? You can't drink out here where anyone can see. It's kind-of obvious that you're underage and if we do anything to get in trouble, we could get kicked out of the condo." Nathan said as he slipped on his shoes.

"Maybe that would be a good thing." Tim mumbled. "At least then Pucas wouldn't be living right across from us."

"Don't worry about him, we'll get him to leave, one way or another."

Nathan walked towards the big gate that lead to the condos and was startled when it swung open on its own and a petite girl ran right into him.

"Whoa, are you ok?" Nathan asked with a little laugh as the girl did the same.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm so sorry, I'm such a-" Haley looked up and her eyes, as well as Brooke's, got wider by the second. "klutz." She finished while pulling herself away from the strong set of hands that rested on her arms.

Peyton had finally looked up from her magazine and was now watching Nathan and Haley intently and Tim did the same.

A thousand thoughts ran through Haley's mind. _Wow, he's gorgeous. I cannot believe I just ran into him, again! Am I blushing? Why am I blushing? Why is he looking at me like that?_

Nathan couldn't take his eyes off of her warm chocolate brown ones, especially one a small blush started to creep across her face. Why did he keep running into her? How is it that she can look so sexy all the time? Why the hell couldn't he stop thoughts like this from running through his head? She's friends with Lucas! He felt like screaming it out loud just to get it through his own head.

"Sorry," She said again as she tried her best to maneuver around his large figure.

"No, it's cool." He said as he flashed his trademark grin, the one that could make any girl melt in her place and then hurried past her.

Melt is exactly what Haley James did. She couldn't think, she couldn't talk, and she definitely couldn't move. After a few seconds, Brooke had to literally pull her to a lounge chair.

Haley sat down on it trying to catch her breath and slow her heart rate, which had seemed to speed up when Nathan smiled at her, without Brooke realizing what an effect seeing Nathan had on her. Gosh, his smile was perfect. Whoa, did she just think that?

Peyton kept her eyes curiously on Haley. If she didn't know any better, she'd say that little miss sandcastle builder had a crush on Nathan. If that was the case, this summer was about to get very interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

Hey guys. I just wanted to let you know that I have a few of the next chapters written already, but I really don't want to post them until you give me your thoughts on this one, so please review! Here's chapter 6...enjoy!

P.S. Italics in this chapter are flashbacks unless it clearly says it is someone's thoughts.

_Disclaimer:_ Sadly, I don't own One Tree Hill or its characters, but I do, however, own my storyline.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 6**

"So, are you going to tell me what's going on between you and Nathan?" Brooke asked as the girls entered their condo after spending the afternoon sunbathing and receiving a few 'accidental' splashes from Tim Smith.

"No, because there is nothing going on between me and Nathan," Haley replied calmly. Then, remembering who was in this condo somewhere, she tried to change the subject. She really didn't want to talk about Nathan in front of Lucas and watch him go all broody. "Is it supposed to rain tonight?"

"Nice try Tutor Girl. Do you like him?"

"Who?" Haley played dumb as she reached into the freezer and pulled out a tub of ice cream.

"Don't play dumb with me! Nathan." Brooke almost yelled, but then remembered that Lucas was around here somewhere so she should probably keep her voice down when talking about his ass of a brother.

"No." Haley said flatly. "I mean, I think he's hot, but I don't like him." How could she even think about liking him? He had been making her best friend's life miserable since the 4th grade when they found out that they had the same father.

"Whatever you say," Brooke giggled before walking away to find Lucas.

Haley rolled her eyes at Brooke's insinuation. There was no way she could ever like Nathan. EVER. She still remembered the first time she had let herself think that he wasn't a terrible guy, let's just say the ending wasn't pretty.

- - - - - - - - Freshman Orientation - - - - - - - -

"_Welcome everyone to Tree Hill High Freshman Orientation." Principal Turner said dully through the microphone. It was obvious that he had done this many times in the past and really didn't enjoy it anymore. "At this time you are welcome to walk around the school, find your assigned lockers and classrooms, and locate all the restrooms. We will all meet back here in 20 minutes."_

_Haley, Brooke, and Lucas all left their seats and walked down the hall together looking for lockers. It didn't take long for them to realize that the lockers were in alphabetical order. _

_Just as the group of three located their lockers, a tall dark haired boy walked past them and up to a stunning red-haired girl._

_Nathan Scott. Haley looked at Lucas to see his eyes narrowing on his brother. The knowledge that he was going to have to spend another four years in the same school as Nathan was enough to make him want to go to a private school, if only his mom could afford it._

_For as long as Haley could remember, Lucas had never really liked Nathan and that dislike had grown into hate after he found out that they shared a father. Haley didn't really see what Lucas hated though. Nathan was charming, tall, gorgeous. Ok, maybe she had a slight crush on him, but so did more than half of the other girls at their grade school. Even some of the freshmen could be seen throwing themselves at him on weekends._

_Haley turned her attention back to Nathan to see him already making out with the red-head. 'Ok, he's fast, but he probably had a great heart' she kept telling herself._

"_Let's find your locker, Haley." Brooke squealed. Haley hadn't started tutoring yet, thus Brooke hadn't thought of the nickname Tutor Girl yet._

_The three of them started walking down the hallway but were stopped just as they were about to turn the corner, by Nathan. _

"_Lucas, I have a question for you." Nathan smirked. "Rachel here wants to know why we have the same last name, so I was wondering if you wanted to tell her?"_

_Nathan knew that anything that had to do with Dan was a sore spot with Lucas, that's how he had been able to get under his skin all throughout grade school. _

"_No, I'm good." Lucas responded in an icy tone._

"_Oh my God!" Rachel spoke for the first time. "What are you wearing?" She motioned towards Haley and then turned to Nathan and started laughing._

_Haley looked down at the knitted poncho her great-grandmother had made for her and felt her face turn bright red._

_Lucas and Brooke stared at Rachel with wide eyes. Neither of them had ever really known anyone who would openly insult someone the way she just did, except Nathan of course._

_Haley looked from Brooke to Lucas to even Nathan searching for a little support. For a moment, she thought she saw a little compassion and maybe some regret mixed into Nathan's eyes, but whatever it was vanished quickly._

"_Seriously Haley, where did you get that rag? Did it come off of one of your teddy bears?" Rachel started to laugh at Nathan's comment and Nathan smirked._

_Haley was so humiliated. She had to get out of there before anyone saw her cry. She turned around and quickly ran into the nearest girls' restroom with Brooke on her heals._

_Nathan knew what he had said was harsh. He really didn't care what the hell she was wearing, he saw an opportunity to make Lucas mad, and took it. As he watched Haley walk away with Brooke following close behind and Lucas giving him a death glare, for a moment he felt a little sorry. What had she ever done to him? Those thoughts quickly left his mind though as Rachel, the girl he had just met about 5 minutes ago, pulled him into a deep kiss._

_Haley sat on the edge of the sink sniffling as Brooke hugged her and told her that she thought the poncho was fashionably acceptable because it was sentimental, which really didn't make Haley feel any better. At this moment, she knew that Nathan Scott was not going to change, he didn't have a good heart, and she certainly wasn't going to waste her time and energy thinking about him anymore._

_- - - - - - - - - _- - - - End Flashback - - - - - - - - - - -

Every time Haley caught herself looking at Nathan's six-pack abs, or admiring his muscular arms, she remembered that scene. Looking back, she didn't think it was that big of a deal that he made fun of her poncho, it **was** pretty ugly, it was just that that was the first time anyone openly made fun of her to her face, and it really hurt.

* * *

It had been about a week since the six teenagers had moved into their summer residences and the awkwardness between the two groups had not gotten any better, in fact it was getting a lot worse. 

Nathan and Tim had been trying to devise ways to scare Lucas off, before he could ruin anymore of their summer, all week. Tim had only thought of his usual lamo-ideas such as put a 'kick me' sign on his back, steal his towel while he's at the beach or pool, and throw a few Frisbees at his head, but Nathan knew that if they wanted Lucas to leave, they needed something big.

That's when it had hit him; the best way to get Lucas to leave was to get him thrown out.

"Tim, are you ready?" Nathan asked as he emerged from his room wearing all black including a backwards black Duke hat.

"I can't believe you guys won't tell me what you're doing." Peyton grumbled as Tim came out of the bathroom in a bright yellow shirt.

"Tim, what the hell are you wearing? We don't want anyone to see us and you're wearing yellow." Nathan stated in an annoyed tone. Did he really have to tell Tim what to wear? He might as well spoon-feed the idiot.

"Oh yeah, hold on." Tim ran back into the bathroom where his still packed suitcase was sitting in the corner. A few seconds later, he returned in a black t-shirt with a big picture of Jesse McCartney on it.

"Where did you get that?" Peyton laughed.

"Uh, I don't know." Tim lied.

"Ok, whatever, as long as it's not yellow. You remember the plan right?" Nathan asked as he picked up a small bag with spray cans in it.

"No I don't." Tim responded sarcastically. "Of course I do, you only told it to me about ten thousand times."

"Ok, let's do this fast. Just be quiet." Nathan said as he walked out the door and headed for the stairs.

* * *

Haley slowed down her run as she heard whispers coming from the courtyard. She had decided to go out for a run when she observed Brooke and Lucas looking cozy on the couch as they watched a movie. She had figured if she left, Brooke would feel a little more comfortable and maybe she would even tell him how she felt. 

Haley walked up the sidewalk that led to the grassy courtyard as she tried to decipher the whispers.

"I still don't get it. Why are we spray painting your name?" A fairly familiar voice whispered.

"Because we're trying to frame Lucas," the other one answered in an annoyed tone.

What the hell was going on? What did that guy just say about Lucas? Haley looked at her phone and saw that it was a little after ten. She slowly and quietly made her way into the courtyard and tried to see what was going on through the darkness.

She saw two figures, one taller than the other, spraying something on the grass. After squinting her eyes, she was able to make out the words that were already painted on. NATHAN IS A BASTA… was what was already written and the taller one was adding more letters by the second. Oh my God! That had to be Nathan and Tim.

"What the hell are you doing?" Haley yelled as she walked up behind the dark figures.

Both Nathan and Tim jumped at the voice and Tim let out a shrill scream.

"Uh, we were just, um." Tim started.

"I cannot believe you guys would do something like this!" She yelled.

"Haley?" Nathan asked, finally placing the girl's voice.

"I cannot believe you guys would do something this immature all because we are staying right across the hall!"

"Can you keep it down?" Nathan pleaded in a low voice, but it was too late. Moments later, a bright light was shining from around the corner and a loud voice accompanied it.

"Who's out there?"


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! Keep it up! And for everyone else, I'm getting, like, 500 hits but only 10 reviews. Please review and tell me what you think! lol. So, here's the next chapter…I hope you like it!

_Disclaimer:_ Neither One Tree Hill or James Lafferty belong to me, unfortunately.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 7**

"Who's out there?" A loud masculine voice yelled through the darkness.

"Shit." Nathan muttered as he tried to gather up all the evidence in the dark.

Haley watched him with a smug smile on her face. It was about time Nathan got into trouble for something.

"What's going on out here?" The voice said again with a heavy southern accent.

Before any of them could say anything, not that they would have, a bright light entered the courtyard followed by an older man and fell upon Nathan's face.

"You there, what are you doing out here?" The man demanded.

"I…um…I was…" Before Nathan could come up with a logical excuse, he was interrupted by a small giggle from beside him.

The man heard the giggles as well and quickly moved the flashlight until it was shining directly at Haley.

"Do you have a problem, miss?" The clearly agitated man spat out.

For the first time, Nathan looked around and noticed that Tim was nowhere to be seen. _The son of a bitch must have run off,_ Nathan thought with a frown. _Great, now they'll pin everything on me._

"No, I was just…um…" Haley had just realized that there was no proof that Nathan actually did this, what if she got blamed for it?

The old man was growing more impatient by the second and quickly moved his flashlight away from Haley's face and pointed it towards the surrounding ground.

The man's eyes widened when he read what had been painted on the grass in fluorescent pink paint. "Who did this?!" The man looked so furious that both Nathan and Haley thought he was going to have a heart attack.

"Both of you come with me!" He yelled in response to the teenagers' quietness.

Nathan and Haley followed the man out of the courtyard and around to the front of the building.

Nathan had his hands in the pockets of his black sweatpants and an annoyed look plastered on his face. This could not be happening. Who did this old geezer think he was? There was no way that this stinky old man had the right to bring them into this weird looking room. _He's probably going to kill us,_ Nathan thought as he glanced at Haley who apparently had just though the same thing. What the hell was Haley's problem? This was all her fault. If she would have kept her damn mouth shut in the first place, they wouldn't be here. Now they were both probably going to get in trouble.

Haley crossed her arms in front of her chest as she followed the short and stubby old man into what appeared to be an office off the side of the building with Nathan close behind. This was all his fault. She didn't even do anything! _If I get blamed for this I'm going to beat his ass,_ Haley thought as she threw him a look that said exactly that.

"Have a seat." The man commanded sternly.

Nathan and Haley walked over to the chairs the man had pointed to and sat down.

Nathan couldn't help but think that this felt pretty much like every time he had ever been sent to Principal Turner's office, which was a lot of times. This guy, if he even had the power to do so, would probably be silent for a few minutes to 'consider the punishment' and then he would yell when Nathan tried to get out of it.

He was right. After about a minute of uncomfortable silence and the old guy just staring at them, Nathan finally spoke. "Ok, I'm sorry if this is rude, but who are you?"

"My name is Mr. Durham, and my wife and I own these condos." The old man scowled.

_Shit,_ Nathan thought.

"Right now I'm trying to decide whether or not to press charges on you delinquents for destroying my property."

"What? I didn't even do anything! I was just-" Haley started as she realized that Mr. Durham was being very serious about this whole thing.

"What are your names?" Mr. Durham asked gruffly, interrupting Haley's pleas of innocence.

"Nathan Scott."

"Haley James." Haley was starting to get a little scared. What if she was sent to jail? _Don't be stupid, Haley. You can't go to jail for spray painting some grass,_ she mentally told herself. "Mr. Durham, I honestly had nothing to do with this. I was running and I-"

"Why should I believe you? If I was in your position I'd be lying my ass off right about now." Mr. Durham's cold grey eyes looked into Haley's soft brown ones and she could tell that she was going to get some of the blame for this.

"Mr. Durham, Haley had nothing to do with this." Nathan said, surprising the other two. Haley looked over at him with wide eyes. Was he actually saying something nice? "I did this alone, she heard me and started yelling at me, that's probably what you heard."

"And again, why should I believe you? How do I know that you're not lying to keep your little girlfriend out of trouble?" Mr. Durham narrowed his eyes as if trying to read Nathan's thoughts.

"She's not my girlfriend." "I'm not his girlfriend." They both corrected at the same time.

"It doesn't matter. Miss James, you were at the scene of the crime so I can only assume that you had a hand in it."

"But I didn't!" Haley protested.

"Therefore, you will share in Mr. Scott here's punishment." Mr. Durham continued. "I have decided not to press charges."

Nathan and Haley both breathed a sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't have to go to court over this.

"But, I am in need of maintenance services here." A small grin spread across the old man's face as if he had just told some hilarious joke and was waiting for the other two to catch on.

Haley looked at him in confusion as Nathan asked the question that was on her mind. "I don't get it. What does that have to do with us?"

"It has everything to do with you Mr. Scott, seeing as how you two are it."

Haley's mouth fell open as Nathan's face showed the confusion he obviously felt.

Mr. Durham noticed the expression on Nathan's face and decided to clarify. "For the rest of the summer, to payback the moral debt you both owe, you two will be my maintenance crew. You will do the cleaning, change the light bulbs, and even unclog any overflowing toilets. Do I make myself clear?"

"You cannot be serious!" Nathan yelled. There was no way he was cleaning someone else's toilet.

"Oh, but I am." Mr. Durham responded as he scribbled on a piece of paper and then tore it in half.

"Will this go on my permanent record?" Haley asked as she felt tears start to build up in her eyes and Nathan rolled his. She had worked so hard to be a good student and role model, and now that was all going to be gone because something she didn't do?

"No, not unless I call the police, which won't happen as long as you two uphold your end of the deal." Mr. Durham smirked at his logic. It would only cost a couple of bucks to remove the paint from the grass, but now he was saving a bundle by having these two work for free! _I'm a genius_, he thought.

"This has got to be some kind of joke. I don't have to do this." Nathan protested.

"Yes you do, unless you want vandalism charges pressed. And you can start with removing that hideous paint from my front lawn." Mr. Durham smiled sweetly as he handed them each a half sheet of paper with numbers scribbled on them. "These are your working hours, 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM, starting tomorrow."

Nathan grabbed the paper and stormed out of the office with Haley following.

* * *

After cleaning up the spray paint from the grass in the courtyard in silence, Nathan and Haley returned to their condos. 

"Tutor girl! What took you so long? I have some amazing news to tell you about Lucas!" Brooke whispered in a high pitched voice as the tired girl finally re-entered the comfort of her home.

"Let's hear it." Haley smiled.

"Ok, well, after you left, Lucas and I were watching some scary war movie on TV so I cuddled up next to him and he put his arm around me!" Brooke was so excited that she was jumping up and down.

"That's it?" Haley almost laughed, but stopped herself when she saw the stern look on Brooke's face telling her that this simple gesture meant a lot to her. "I mean, that's great!"

"I know!" Brooke squealed. "So, where were you?"

Haley sat down at the table next to Brooke and proceeded to tell her the whole story.

* * *

"I can't believe you got clean up duty, Nate." Tim laughed as his friend finished the somewhat painful story of how he and Haley had been stuck with maintenance duty for the rest of the summer. 

"I can't believe you left me hanging out there." Nathan shot back.

"I'm sorry, I got freaked out!" Tim defended himself.

"This is priceless." Peyton said as she erupted into laughter. "I think you totally deserved it."

"Peyton, what the hell is your problem? Did you not hear what I said? I have to clean floors and fix toilets all summer and I have to do it with Lucas's best friend!" Nathan said in an annoyed tone. How could she say that he deserved it? Lucas had started it by coming here in the first place.

"Never mind, jeez." Peyton responded as she went into her room and slammed the door.

"I'm going to bed." Nathan stated before entering his room as well, leaving Tim to play his PS2 in peace.

Nathan pulled off his black t-shirt and sat down on his bed. _I can't believe I have to clean this freakin place tomorrow,_ he thought as he pulled his alarm clock into his lap and set it for 6:30 AM.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone. I love the reviews! They keep me focused and some of them make me laugh. I'm so glad you guys enjoy my story. Keep it up! So, here's the next chapter…I hope you like it!

_Disclaimer:_ Neither One Tree Hill or James Lafferty belong to me, unfortunately.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 8**

"Where is Mr. Scott?" Mr. Durham asked impatiently as he kept his eyes on the office door.

"I'm sure he'll be here soon." Haley replied with little confidence in her voice. It was already 7:05. Where was he? Of course Nathan would be late when she had arrived a full 10 minutes early to get on Mr. Durham's good side.

"You better hope so little missy, or you will be doing your chores alone today." Mr. Durham chuckled deviously. Obviously he enjoyed making the lives of young people miserable.

"I'm here." Nathan said sleepily as he walked into the same office he and Haley had been in the night before, wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants. His short dark hair was all over the place and it was obvious that he had woken up just a few moments ago.

Haley looked at him and her heart started to speed up again. Why did it always have to do that when Nathan was around? God, even after just waking up he looked gorgeous. _No! Haley, don't you remember the reason you're here? It's him!_ She told herself in an attempt to distract her mind from the place it was going.

"Well, Mr. Scott, I'm glad to see you finally rolled out of bed." The old man said sarcastically.

"Whitey! Did you make the reservation at the restaurant for tonight?" A woman's voice boomed over a speaker somewhere in the room. Nathan and Haley found themselves looking around the room for the origin of this loud but still pleasant voice.

"Camilla, not now, I'm in a meeting." 'Whitey' said as he leaned over his desk and pressed a small red button. Nathan found himself smirking at the nickname of his new 'boss'.

"Oh, with the spray painter kids?" Camilla asked in a sweet tone.

"Yes, now can you please stop interrupting?" He asked in an agitated but still loving voice.

"Oh, yeah, sorry hunny. Tell the kids that after they finish their work they can come up and get some cookies." Camilla said in an even sweeter voice. Haley couldn't help but smile; this woman seemed like the ideal grandmother.

As Haley admired the woman on the other end of the intercom, Nathan looked around the office, bored. It seemed smaller in the daylight, probably because the clutter was now clearly visible. It seemed that everywhere Nathan looked, there was a picture of a different basketball team, all with one thing in common, Mr. Durham. _He must have been the coach_, Nathan concluded.

"Camilla, these kids are supposed to be learning discipline from this job and you want them to eat cookies? I think that…Oh, never mind. Goodbye." Whitey pressed a button on the side of the desk that obviously turned the intercom off. "Sorry about that, My wife loves to talk."

Haley couldn't help but smile as a loving grin spread across Whitey's face at the mention of his wife. "Oh, no problem…Whitey." Nathan teased. He knew it probably wasn't a great idea to get under Whitey's skin right now, but he didn't care. This guy made him get up at 7:00 in the morning…lets just say, he had it coming to him.

"Don't call me that. Now where was I?"

"You were just about to tell us that you made a mistake last night and that we are free to enjoy our summer as we please." Nathan tried as Haley rolled her eyes. Why couldn't he just accept the fact that they were stuck doing this?

"Oh yes, now I remember. You were just about to tell me why you were late getting down here. Miss James was even here early so I see no reason why you should have been late."

"My alarm clock didn't go off." Nathan lied. It had gone off at 6:30, the time he had set it to, but he had been tired and 'accidentally' pressed the snooze button a few times.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again." Whitey warned in a stern voice. "Now, you two have a lot of work to do and I suggest you clean the pool before anyone gets out there."

* * *

"This is all your fault you know." Haley whined as she measured out the right amount of chlorine to add to the pool. "I didn't even do anything."

"Well I tried to tell the old man that, but he wouldn't listen." Nathan defended himself as he looked at the series of long tools hanging on the side of the fence and tried to decide which one he was supposed to use. "So don't go blaming this on me."

"How can I not blame this on you? If you would have just sucked it up and faced the fact that Lucas is living across from you, we wouldn't be here now! But no, you had to go and be your jerk of a self. And who came up with the dumb idea of spray painting grass? How first grade is that? And framing Lucas, real mature…"

Haley continued on as Nathan watched her with a smirk. God, she was cute when she was angry. Damn it! It happened again! Nathan Scott doesn't think of girls as cute! _What the hell is wrong with me?_ Nathan questioned in his head. "You finished?" He asked when it seemed she had finished her rant.

"Yeah," She replied, exasperated. Obviously he hadn't heard a word of what she just said.

"Great. Now do you want to tell me which one of these long pole things I'm supposed to use to clean out this damn pool?" He asked, frustrated that he had to clean out the pool at all.

"Um, yeah, it's the one with a big net on the end." She put down the jug of chlorine and pointed past Nathan to a long blue pole that did indeed have a net on the end. "The one that looks like the thing you use to get a fish out of a fish bowl before you clean it." She clarified.

Nathan laughed a little at her explanation, man this girl could ramble on about anything. "Thanks." He walked over and grabbed the pole off the fence and started to run it through the water in an attempt to clear out as much of the dirt as possible.

"Tutor Girl!" Haley heard a feminine voice call from somewhere above her. There was no doubt that it had to be Brooke; she just didn't know where it was coming from.

Both Nathan and Haley looked up from their jobs and focused on Brooke who was yelling over the railing of a balcony on the third floor.

"Hey!" She called, not really caring that it was 7:00 in the morning and that almost none of the other residents were awake yet.

Haley waved back as her face turned a little red. Brooke was no doubt waking up some of the neighbors and Haley really didn't want to get in any more trouble with Whitey. "Brooke, if you want to talk can you please come down here?"

Nathan went back to his job of filtering the pool, not really caring what gossip the two girls were going to exchange. He couldn't believe he, Nathan Scott, captain of the basketball team and king of Tree Hill High, was actually cleaning a pool. He probably looked exactly like Peyton's pool boy that he had made fun of for the last 5 years. Great.

"Fine, I'll be down in a minute!" Brooke yelled as she ran back into her condo.

Haley chuckled, how could anyone not love Brooke Davis?

Haley glanced over at Nathan and couldn't help but notice that he had taken his shirt off, probably because even though it was only 7:00 in the morning, it was already 85 degrees. _Wow, look at those abs…_She found herself thinking. This was seriously getting old. Why did she keep thinking these absurd things? _Because they're true._ Ok, so maybe she kept thinking how gorgeous he was because he was in fact gorgeous. But just because she found him attractive didn't mean she had to actually like him as a person…

"Hey." Brooke's perky voice tore her from her thoughts.

"Hey, Tigger, you sure got down here fast."

"I know, I practically ran." Brooke's face was full of pride as she admitted that she was close to actually doing more than power-walking.

"So, do you and Lucas have any big plans for today?" Haley asked, almost hoping the answer was no because she didn't want to have to miss out on the fun.

"Not really. I tried to talk Luke into going back to the beach, but ever since the crab incident he's been a little freaked out by it." Brooke tried her hardest to stifle a laugh.

"Yeah, I noticed." Haley said back as she too felt the urge to laugh at Lucas being afraid of a little red crab.

"So, we're going shopping." Brooke replied happily.

"That's fun. What's the occasion?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. We're going to a beach party next Saturday night."

"What? Brooke! I have to work every day this week and I'll have nothing to wear!" Haley almost yelled. Why couldn't Brooke have told her about this party last night? Then maybe she would have gone shopping for a new outfit instead of on a run…

"Don't worry Tutor Girl, I got ya covered. It's a good thing I know your size because for this party you are totally going to get a Brooke Davis makeover." Brooke squealed.

"Ugh, Brooke, you do realize that the last time you gave me a makeover some creepy guy came up to me and thought I was a prostitute, right?" Haley groaned.

"That's in the past Haley. I mean the guy had obviously never seen a hooker before if he thought you looked like one. You totally had the whole 'sexy but not a whore' thing going on whereas a hooker always looks more like 'whore and not even that sexy.'"

"Wow, that makes me feel so much better." Haley said sarcastically.

"Ok, well, I really need to go get ready. Don't worry, I'll take care of the clothes." Brooke winked and then walked away, leaving Haley to continue trying to figure out the perfect amount of chlorine to add to the now pretty much clean pool.

Nathan finished filtering the pool and looked up to see Peyton waving to him from the gate. He put the pole back in its place hanging from the fence and then walked over to talk to her.

"Hey pool boy, what's happening?" Peyton joked.

"Very funny," He responded while leaning up against the side of the gate. "So what are you and Tim doing today?"

"Well, I'm going to the beach and if Tim comes down, then I might have to kill him." She said playfully. She had been going to the beach every day since the day they arrived. Mostly she did this because she loved the water, but she had also taken an interest in the dark haired guy she had seen with a baby on her first trip there. He was usually there with the little girl every day and Peyton loved to watch him interact with her.

"So, how's the company?" Peyton said, motioning with her head towards Haley. "You gonna make it through the summer without killing her?" Nathan turned around to look at the girl just as she spilt the chemical all over the table she had been measuring it on and muttered a curse word. He had to laugh a little, which made Peyton even more curious to hear his answer.

"I think I'll survive." He replied with a small grin, never taking his eyes from the small blonde haired girl.


	9. Chapter 9

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews! You guys rock! So, here's chapter 9. Enjoy!

_Disclaimer:_ One Tree Hill and it's characters do not belong to me, just the storyline does.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 9**

"I can't believe that it's already Friday." Haley said as she searched through one of her three dresser drawers for something to wear for the day. "This week has gone by faster than I thought it would."

"Because of Nathan?" Brooke questioned sleepily from the bed without opening her eyes.

"No," Haley said defensively, "because I though that cleaning up this place was going to be a lot harder than it is."

"Because of Nathan?" Brooke asked again as a sly grin spread across her face. She loved playing the devil's advocate.

"No!" Haley laughed. Ok, maybe Nathan did make the everyday chores a little more bearable, she had even learned through the course of the week that most of the time she could talk to him as if he were a normal person, but she would never admit that out loud.

"Come one Tutor Girl, I see you flirting with him and vice versa like every single day." Brooke was still lying in bed but now seemed to be a little more awake.

"I do not flirt!" She defended herself. _Brooke thinks Nathan was flirting with me? Was he?_

"Can you guys keep it down? I think you forgot that my room is right next to yours and that it's not even 7:00 yet." Lucas said groggily from the doorway.

Both girls started giggling. "Sorry, Luke. We were just talking about how much Haley loves working with Nathan every day." Brooke teased as Haley rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah. How's that going?" Lucas asked as he laid down on the bed next to Brooke and put his hands behind his head.

"It's not as bad as I though it would be." Haley responded as she pulled her hair into a high ponytail.

"I still can't believe that this Whitey guy is making you do all the cleaning and stuff when you didn't even do anything." Lucas said as he rolled over onto his side and tried to go back to sleep. "But it doesn't surprise me that Nathan never admitted that you didn't do it." He grumbled.

"Actually, he did." Haley suddenly felt the need to be defensive of Nathan. _I'm just stating the truth,_ She told herself. "Um, Nathan told Whitey that I had nothing to do with it but Whitey didn't believe him. I don't really know why, it's not like spray painting grass has to be a two person job."

Haley looked up to see Lucas staring at her in slight confusion. Brooke sat up in the bed with wide eyes. "I told you you have a thing for him!"

"Shut up, no I don't!" Haley responded as she threw a pillow at her friend. "Ok, well, I've got to go or I'm going to be late." She said as she headed out the door.

Lucas watched her go with nothing but concern written on his face. She couldn't really like Nathan, could she? After everything that he's done?

* * *

"Did you see the people that just left? Talk about hillbillies!" Haley laughed as she and Nathan entered condo number 8 on the second floor.

"I know, they must have been from Kentucky or something." Nathan answered, joining in on her laughter.

"Hey. Watch it mister. I have relatives in Kentucky." She said as she playfully pointed a finger at him.

"Haley, where don't you have relatives?" Nathan joked as he set the key down on the counter in the kitchen of the condo.

Whitey had informed them that the couple in condo 8 was checking out today and that they had to clean the place before the next family arrived tomorrow.

"Very funny," Haley mocked laughter. "So where do you want to start?"

"I don't know." He said as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. "How about we take a break before we start?" He smirked as he pulled out a tub of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.

"Nathan! We can't eat that. It's not ours."

"Who cares? I don't think they're going to come back looking for it." He laughed as he pulled out two spoons from a drawer.

"No, I can't."

"Whatever." He smirked and sat down across from her at the table. "Mmm, this is good." He taunted as he put a spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

Haley just looked at the ice cream. Chocolate chip cookie dough was her favorite and it seemed to be calling her name. "Fine, give me some of that."

Nathan broke into a wide grin as he handed her the other spoon and watched her shove a very large chunk of ice cream into her mouth.

"Oh my gosh!" She yelled.

"What? What?" Nathan asked in a concerned voice when he saw her shaking and with her hands pressed against the side of her head.

"Brain freeze," she managed to say as the splitting headache started to subside.

Nathan burst out in laughter. Only Haley James would eat so much ice cream so fast that she got a brain freeze.

"Shut up! I saw how worried you were when you thought I was having, like, a stroke or something." She said playfully as she reached her spoon into the tub and scooped out another spoonful of ice cream, this time a lot less though.

"I was only worried because I thought I was going to have to call a freakin ambulance or something. I'm not good in crisis situations like that." He laughed.

"Oh please, yes you are. What do you call making a game winning shot at a basketball game?"

"That's not a crisis, Hales. That's just stressful." He corrected as he shoved more ice cream in his mouth.

Haley couldn't help but smile at his use of her nickname. Was it even possible that they hated each other less than a week ago? Ever since they started spending eight hours together every day, they had almost become friends. With them, everything just seemed to click. Conversations were easy and relaxed and she felt comfortable around him as he did with her.

"Nathan! You took the last little bit!" She whined after reaching her spoon into the tub and having it come out empty.

"You snooze you lose." He smiled as he picked up the now empty container and shot it into the garbage can.

"Ok, we really need to start cleaning this place." Haley said as she came back out of the kitchen after putting the spoons in the dishwasher. "I do not want to have to finish it tomorrow."

"Me neither." Nathan added. Whitey had given them the weekends off and both had already made plans for tomorrow, their first free day since Monday. "So what are you going to do tomorrow with your day off?" He asked, obviously trying to prolong the inevitable cleaning.

Luckily for him, Haley didn't really feel like cleaning either. "Well, Brooke's dragging us to this beach party tomorrow night and before that she's apparently going to be giving me a makeover."

"Hey, we're going to that party too."

"Really?" Haley's eyes lit up when heard him say those words.

"Yeah, Tim wanted to go, so we're going." Somehow, knowing that Haley was going to be at this party made the fact that Lucas was going to be there a little more bearable.

A somewhat awkward silence followed as the realization that both of their groups of friends, who hated each other, were going to be at this party sunk in. Neither Peyton and Tim nor Brooke and Lucas really had any idea that Nathan and Haley didn't want to kill each other, let alone that they had become sort-of friends. No one could really blame them for not knowing, it's not like Nathan and Haley ever spent time together other than when they were working.

Haley thought about how much she would like to hang out with Nathan at this party, at least then she wouldn't feel like a third wheel if Brooke decided to finally tell Lucas how she felt. But, in the end, she knew that that would never happen. They came from two different worlds, his full of popularity and parties while hers consisted of studying and staying home on Friday nights.

"Ok, let's flip a coin. Heads we start in the kitchen, tails we start in the bathroom." Nathan proposed, breaking the silence.

"Ok." Haley agreed enthusiastically as he pulled a quarter out of his pocket and flipped it on the table.

"Tails, I call the sink!" He laughed as she groaned at having to clean the toilet.

They gathered the cleaning materials from under the kitchen sink and then headed into the bathroom.

"Oh my Gosh, what is that smell?" Haley gasped, holding her nose.

Nathan moved around her and lifted up the toilet seat to see a giant wad of toilet paper surrounded by murky brown water. "What the hell?" Nathan muttered. He looked up at Haley and smirked. "Good thing I called the sink."

"There is no way I'm getting anywhere near that." She stated firmly.

"You have to. I'll even flush it for you, ok?" Nathan held his shirt up over his nose and stuck his hand out to flush the toilet. Almost immediately a loud gurgling noise was heard as the toilet started to fill up with water.

"Ew!" Haley yelled and ran out of the bathroom as the toilet started to overflow.

"Well, it looks like you have a toilet to unclog." Nathan laughed as he stood next to her and looked into the bathroom.

"Ugh…I cannot believe you are making me do this." She complained.

After a few minutes, the excess water had been cleaned up from the floor and Haley was leaning over the toilet with a plunger. "Nathan, I can't do it." She whined as she tried to unclog the toilet.

Nathan sprayed some Windex on the mirror and then looked over at her. For a second, his breath caught in his throat. She had taken off her light green shirt and was now just wearing a white cami with her grey soffe shorts. Random strands of hair had fallen out of her ponytail and hung in her face as she tried as hard as she could to unclog the toilet.

He couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Haley's small frame using every ounce of strength it had to press down the plunger and then pull it up again. "Give me that." He said as he snatched the plunger from her small hands. "You can do the sink, but you have to do the toilet next time." He warned as a playful grin spread across his handsome features.

"Oh my gosh! You're the best!" She squealed as she happily picked up the rag he had left in the sink and wiped up the Windex. Nathan's smile just grew in seeing her happy.

* * *

"You're done late today." Peyton commented as Nathan entered the condo at 4:30.

"Yeah, it uh, took a long time to clean the condo downstairs. The hillbillies left the place really messy." He lied. The real reason he was so late was because of the ice cream break he and Haley had taken and because he spent a good half an hour unclogging the toilet. What had those people put in there anyway?

"Nate, dawg, come play NBA live with me." Tim demanded as Nathan plopped down on the couch next to him.

"So you guys are coming with me to the party tomorrow night, right?" Tim asked hopefully as Nathan picked his team.

"Yeah, I guess." Peyton replied as she went back into her room to find her brush.

"Yeah, I'm going." Nathan said, actually not dreading this party for the first time.


	10. Chapter 10

Hey everyone. Did you all hear the news about OTH? Supposedly it's not coming on again until May 2 because of the Pussycat Dolls show. GRRR...I am beyond mad right now. Anyway...

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. It really means a lot to me! Here's chapter 10, it's the longest one so far and took me the longest to write. I hope you like it.

_Disclaimer:_ So, I pretty much own nothing. :(

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 10**

"Brooke, you promised that I wouldn't look like a prostitute." Haley reminded her friend as she was guided into the bathroom for the unveiling of her Brooke Davis makeover. Of course, Brooke had insisted that Haley be blindfolded during the whole thing.

"You don't look like a prostitute. Haley, I know you are going to like it because I would never wear it." Brooke reassured her.

Brooke untied Haley's blindfold and watched as her friend studied her reflection in the mirror.

"It's actually not that bad." Haley said with a smile as she made a motion to pull her hair up into a ponytail.

"No! Brooke yelled as she swatted at Haley's hands. "You have to leave it down." She commanded.

"Ok, jeez." Haley looked in the mirror again. She had on a light blue halter top that was not too revealing but was still low enough to be cute. She wore a short denim skirt and a few long beaded necklaces. On her feat were casual but stylish sandals that were the same baby blue shade as her shirt and had a few jewels scattered about on top.

"Ugh, where is Lucas?" Brooke complained. "He said he was just going to run up to the pet store really quick and look at the crabs in some sort of weird attempt to get over his crab-phobia."

"Ok, well, I'm sure he'll be back soon then." Haley responded, not really seing why Brooke was so agitated.

"That was 43 minutes ago, Haley! I don't call 43 minutes 'quick' and we can't go to the party without him!"

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late. The pet store guy wouldn't let me leave without buying something." Lucas called from the kitchen as he set his precious package down.

"Whatever Broody, just hurry up!" Brooke yelled as she started to touch up her makeup.

"What did you get?" Haley asked as she made her way into the kitchen to see what Lucas had brought home. She saw a large bowl filled with water and a small whitish brown fish swimming around in circles. "You got a fish! Yea!" Haley squealed as she went over to the bowl and peered inside. "Please can I name him, Lucas?"

"Haley, this isn't just a fish, it's a piranha, and I already named it." Lucas answered.

"Ok. Well what's its name?"

"Nathan. It seemed appropriate since this fish could bite my finger off at any time." Lucas said coolly.

Haley felt a slight pang of hurt at Lucas' words and couldn't help it when that hurt turned to anger and annoyance. "Lucas, I really don't think that's fair. You should at least give Nathan a chance before you go naming a man-eating fish after him." Nathan had become like a friend to her, and although she didn't know exactly what it was that they had, they still had something and that meant a lot to her.

"Ok. God Haley, freak out." He said as he sprinkled some fish food into the bowl and then headed into his room to get dressed.

Haley decided to go and see of Brooke was ready yet. "Brooke, can I come in?" She asked as she knocked on the door.

"Yeah," Brooke opened the door to let her friend in. "Please tell me Lucas is ready."

"No, but he's getting there. Brooke, when are you going to tell him how you feel?" Haley questioned in a low voice that was close to a whisper so that Lucas wouldn't hear her.

"Well, if you must know Tutor Girl, I plan on telling him tonight." Brooke responded casually as she reapplied her lip gloss.

_That explains the outfit,_ Haley thought. Brooke was wearing clothes that were a bit more conservative than usual, and Haley had noticed. "That's great, Brooke."

"I know, but I'm scared out of my mind, Haley. What if he totally gets creeped out and then doesn't even want to be my friend anymore?" Brooke said as she started to almost hyperventilate at the thought. There was no way she could live without Lucas in her life.

"I think the better question is how much longer can you keep pretending that you only want to be friends with him?" Haley answered genuinely.

* * *

"Nate, Peyton, come here, there's someone I want you to meet." Tim called from a little down the beach. The three of them had arrived about 10 minutes ago at which time Nathan had begun to look around for Haley and Peyton looked for the mysterious boy that she saw on the beach every day. 

Nathan didn't really know what he would do if he saw Haley. There was a big part of him that would want to just go up to her and start talking as though they were the only two people in the world, but the other part said that he should keep his distance, mostly because of what Tim and Peyton would think and because he didn't want Lucas trying to beat his ass. 'Trying' being the key word.

Nathan and Peyton walked over to where Tim was standing next to a scrawny spiky-haired kid. "Nathan, Peyton, this is Chris Keller. Chris, this is Nathan and this is Peyton." Tim said as he introduced them all. Ever since they had arrived, Tim had introduced them to at least 20 people, it was as if the kid knew the whole town.

"What's up?" Chris said as he extended his hand to Nathan and then to Peyton. By this time, Tim had already taken off to go and talk to some bikini clad girls who had just walked by.

"So, do you live around here, Chris?" Peyton asked politely.

"Nah, I live in New York. I write songs." Chris proclaimed proudly.

"Really?" Peyton pretended to be interested until she saw the guy she had been looking for, surprisingly baby-free. "Excuse me." She said quickly and then walked past him, leaving Nathan alone with Chris.

"I'm on vacation here. You know, work is really busy. You wouldn't think it was hard to be a big time recording artist, but it actually is…" Chris carried on as Nathan tried his best not to fall asleep.

"Hey." Peyton said as she approached the guy.

"Hey."

"So, I've seen you out here everyday this week and this might sound kind-of weird but I was just wondering who you are." Peyton blurted out. _Wow, subtle_, she thought.

The guy just laughed good-naturedly. "I'm Jake. And you are?" He questioned.

"Peyton." She smiled. The two carried on with light conversation until Peyton just had to ask the question that had been on her mind all night. "So, I'm surprised to see you out here with no baby." Peyton joked.

"Oh yeah, I'm baby free for the night." He laughed.

"She's adorable, I've seen you building sandcastles with her. Is she your sister?"

"No, um, actually, she's my daughter." Jake admitted.

Peyton felt her heart drop a little. _Daughter?_ Peyton really didn't care if Jake had a daughter, but Jake's daughter must have a mother…_Oh my God, what if he's married? I've been hitting on a married guy!_

In answer to the question that he could see in her bright green eyes, Jake said, "No, her mom and I aren't together. I actually don't even know where she is."

"Oh, that…sucks." Peyton answered. She felt like a small weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She really liked this guy. "So how old is she?" She asked out of genuine interest.

"She'll be one in august." Jake answered proudly.

The two carried on in conversation, getting to know each other better, as Nathan listened to Chris go on and on about the joys of life in the music industry.

"So I was all, 'Whoa Brittney, I wouldn't get with you even if you weren't crazy.' And let me tell you, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Beyonce…name droppers." Chris laughed as if something he said was actually funny.

Nathan just took another large drink of his beer and then looked up to see Haley walk in with Lucas and Brooke. God, she looked gorgeous. He wanted more than anything to ditch this Chris loser and just go talk to her.

He watched as the three of them set their stuff down on a random log that surrounded the big bonfire before he was pulled back into the conversation with Chris.

"So, are you here on vacation, Nate?" Nathan winced at Chris's use of his nickname.

"Um, yeah." Nathan nodded as he looked back over at Haley again.

* * *

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Lucas asked after setting his jacket down on a large brown log. 

"Yeah, I'll have some wine." Brooke answered.

"Um, Brooke, I highly doubt that they have wine here." Lucas laughed.

"Oh, right." Brooke had forgotten that there is not an endless supply of wine everywhere in the world as there always seemed to be in her home lifestyle. "I'll just have a coke then." For as long as Brooke could remember, she hated the taste of beer; it always made her want to throw up.

"Do you want anything, Hales?" Lucas asked before walking away.

"You know I don't drink, Lucas." Haley reminded him.

"Water it is." He finished for her and then took off.

"So, when are you going to tell him?" Haley asked, the excitement evident in her voice.

"I don't know Haley, I'm starting to think that telling him is a bad idea." Brooke responded in an almost shaky voice.

"What? Brooke, come on. You can do it." Haley soothed, she knew that Brooke was really nervous about this since she had actually used the name Haley in a sentence instead of Tutor Girl.

"I know…maybe we should, like, I don't know, go on a walk or something first?" Brooke suggested.

"Sounds great," Haley encouraged, anything to get Brooke to finally admit her feelings. Haley looked up and saw Nathan, who looked to be bored out of is mind in a conversation with some guy. All Haley wanted to do was run up and save him from what appeared to be the most boring conversation of anyone's life.

Just then, Lucas walked up with their drinks. "Hey, Broody, do you want to go for a walk?" Brooke asked after she had taken a few sips of her coke.

"Uh, sure." Lucas replied and watched Brooke's eyes light up. "You ok here by yourself, Haley?"

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. You two go ahead." She replied enthusiastically, there was no way she was going to interfere with this moment.

"Ok, see ya later." Lucas called as he and Brooke walked off towards where the sun was setting.

Haley looked up at Nathan again and noticed that he was now talking to someone different. She walked around and then joined in on a conversation with a girl who had just complimented her outfit.

* * *

Nathan had seen Lucas and Brooke leave Haley alone about 10 minutes ago, just before he had gotten out of his amazingly boring conversation with Chris Keller. Since he had seen her wonder off by herself, he had made it sort of his personal responsibility to keep an eye on her. 

As Nathan subtly watched her, he saw Chris Keller walk up and snake his arm around her waist. Nathan felt his whole body stiffen as he saw him lean his head on her shoulder. _That bastard,_ _I'm gonna kick his ass_, he found himself thinking. He also mentally cheered when Haley pushed him away, but in a sweet way of course.

"Um, I'm sorry, but what are you doing?" She asked as she turned to face Chris.

"Well, I was just wondering if I could get you a drink." He said sweetly.

"No thanks."

"Come on, at least let me get you some water." Chris pleaded with a smile.

"Ok, fine." Haley laughed as she realized that her cup of water was already empty.

Nathan watched as Chris gave Haley a drink and she took it gratefully. _It must be water, _he thought. He specifically remembered Haley saying that she doesn't drink because she can't handle her alcohol very well…

About half an hour later, after mingling with a few random party-goers while still keeping an eye on Haley, Nathan noticed her behavior start to change a little. Through the course of the half hour, he had witnessed Haley go from shy and reserved around Chris to bubbly and outgoing, to now acting a bit tired and looking as if she was going to fall asleep at any moment, that just wasn't natural. He had also seen Chris bring Haley multiple refills of her water. He really didn't trust that Chris guy.

Then the thought crossed Nathan's mind that Chris could have slipped Haley something. He quickly looked over to where Chris and Haley were sitting on a log and noticed Chris now trying to support Haley's small body as she stood up. Without thinking, Nathan walked up to them.

"What the hell did you do to her, Keller?" He demanded.

"Nothing," Chris winked which only made Nathan more sure that he had indeed done something.

"Haley, are you ok?" He asked, looking at her.

Haley made an attempt to lift her head, but it just fell back down again.

"Chris, what the hell did you giver her?" Nathan yelled.

"Nothing man, she was drinking." Chris defended himself.

"Wrong answer, Keller, she doesn't drink." Nathan was getting angrier by the minute.

"Ok, fine, I'll tell you if you just chill out." Chris said as he readjusted his grip around Haley in an attempt to keep her from falling down. Nathan gave him a look that said 'go ahead' and Chris started his explanation.

"All I did was mix vodka into her water. Yeah, that Tim guy said that he does it all the time, so I decided to try it. I put a little in at a time and then gradually added more as she got more wasted." Chris said, obviously proud of himself, as Nathan looked like he was ready to punch the hell out of him. He also made a mental note to kick Tim's ass later.

"What the hell is your problem, Chris?! How much did you give her?" Nathan asked, noticing the way Haley looked beyond wasted.

"I don't know, probably around fifteen cups."

"Fifteen cups! You idiot, look how small she is! She can't handle 15 cups!" Nathan was furious, how stupid could one guy be?

"Take it easy man, she'll be fine when she wakes up tomorrow. I'll make sure of it." He winked. This sent Nathan over the edge.

"Give me her." He said as he reached out to the girl who was all but aware of her surroundings right now.

"No way! Get your own!" Chris retorted.

"You son of a bitch, you better let go of her before I rearrange your face." Nathan warned.

This seemed to get through to Chris, who had no doubt noticed that Nathan was much taller and more muscular than him. "Whatever." Chris said as he let go of Haley and practically pushed her into Nathan who caught her with ease.

"Haley. Haley." Nathan said softly as he smoothed the hair out of her face and watched her feeble attempt at opening her eyes. "Come on, you're going home." He stated as he tried to help her walk.

When that didn't work, Nathan swiftly gathered her in his arms and hoisted her in the air. She unknowingly nuzzled her nose into his hard chest which made Nathan chuckle. Even when she was completely unaware, she was still adorable as hell. He started walking towards the condo when he caught Peyton's eyes. She hurriedly departed from her conversation with Jake and approached him.

"Nathan, oh my God, what happened to her?" She asked as Haley let out a soft moan.

"That asshole Chris pretty much forced 15 cups of vodka down her throat." Nathan said bitterly. "I'm going to take her home. Can you go find Lucas and Brooke and tell them to come up to their condo?" He asked.

"Yeah, sure." She responded as she took off in the direction she had seen Lucas and Brooke walk away in almost 45 minutes ago.

Nathan quickly carried the petite girl back to the condo complex that they shared, the whole time, one thought ran through his head, _What if she's not ok?_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/T: The SOS (save our show) Campaign starts tomorrow on Everyone should go and vote for OTH to show your support for a season 5!**

Anyway, your reviews are amazing. I love you all! This is probably the last time I will get to update before Sunday or Monday because I am going on a retreat. (fun!) Sorry...Here's the nest chapter, I really don't think it's that great, but I hope you like it...

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters; I just own my ideas…

Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 11**

After walking for a while and engaging in small talk, Brooke finally decided that it was time to take the plunge.

"Wow, that sunset is gorgeous." Lucas whispered as he and Brooke walked toward the pink and purple horizon.

_It's now or never,_ Brooke thought. "So, Luke, I um, I really need to tell you something." She managed to say a little bit louder than a whisper.

"Ok, what is it, Pretty Girl?" Lucas joked, using the nickname that a random guy had yelled at her from across the beach only a few minutes ago. "Just don't tell me anything about crabs."

Brooke laughed, but her laughter was a little forced. She had never been this nervous in her entire life. "It's not about crabs." She assured him.

"Good. So what is it?" He asked as they stopped to sit down on some nearby rocks.

"Ok, here it goes." She breathed out heavily. "Lucas, I… I um… I really don't know how to say this, but ever since eighth grade I've had these feelings."

"Feelings?" Lucas chuckled. What was she trying to say?

"Yeah, and I've sort of been hiding them, but I just can't anymore." She said, searching his face for understanding. She found none. God, did she really have to spell it out for him? "Lucas, I lo-"

"Lucas!" A loud feminine voice broke the moment and drowned the rest of Brooke's statement. Both of them looked up to see Peyton Sawyer running towards then with her arms flying in the air.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Brooke muttered, deeply annoyed that the tall blonde had annihilated her newfound confidence.

"Lucas!" She yelled again as she slowed down a few feet away from them.

"Yeah?" He answered, obviously leery of the fact that this was Peyton Sawyer, the friend of his brother.

"You have to come… now… it's Haley." She panted.

"What's wrong with Haley?" Brooke asked, alarmed.

"She got…um…really drunk…and I'm not positive…but I'm pretty sure…that she passed out." Peyton managed to say as her heart rate started to return to normal.

"Haley doesn't drink." Lucas responded, "And what do you mean you're 'pretty sure'?"

"I didn't see it happen," Peyton explained, "But Nathan did. He said he was taking her back to your condo and that I should come find you."

"Ok, come on Brooke." He said as he pulled her off of the rocks and started jogging back in the direction that Peyton had come from. He knew that this could very well be just a set up in Nathan's latest ploy to torture him, but he wasn't going to take that chance, not on his best friend.

* * *

Nathan reached into his pocket and pulled out the key Whitey had given him that worked on every door in the complex while carefully making sure he didn't drop Haley. By the time they had reached the top of the stairs, Nathan had noticed that her breathing had become slow and regular rather than shallow and forced like before. He figured that she had probably passed out. 

He swiftly unlocked the door to condo 9 and carried the unconscious girl inside. Nathan slowly walked over to the couch and gently laid Haley down on it. He really didn't know what to do next, he knew that he had to wait with her until Lucas arrived, but waiting for her to wake up and just say "hi" to him was sending him over the edge.

How could that Keller kid do something like this? Especially to Haley, who was as innocent as they come. _I'm going to beat the shit out of him,_ Nathan thought as a small smile crept across his face at the thought.

Speaking of beating the shit out of people, what the hell was Tim's problem? First of all, who thinks up something so wrong as mixing vodka in with a girl's water until he gets drunk, just to get her into bed?

Nathan felt his blood start to boil as he imagined Chris taking advantage of Haley. She did not deserve what he had done to her. She was one of a kind and deserved to be respected for that.

Nathan thought back to when Tim had first pulled this stunt, on Peyton. He knew that Tim wasn't going to do anything with Peyton, and that's probably why it really didn't make him all that mad. _Could this really only have happened a few weeks ago?_ But Chris, he had purposefully plastered the sweet girl laying front of him just to get laid. _Obviously he couldn't find a sober girl that was willing to suffer by going home with him._

He was starting to get a little antsy. He just wanted Haley to wake up and tell him that she was fine, was that too much to ask? Nathan thought about what 15 cups of vodka, watered down or not, would do to her small body. There was no doubt in his mind that she wasn't used to much alcohol at all, let alone 15 cups.

He felt the worry wash over him again. What if she had alcohol poisoning? Maybe he should take her to the hospital just in case? No, they were both underage, he didn't want to risk getting in trouble with the law when she would probably be fine after sleeping it off.

Nathan was now getting very restless. He had just spent close to 10 minutes watching this girl sleep. _You're becoming a softie,_ He accused himself as he tore his eyes from her peaceful face.

Nathan walked into the kitchen and noticed a fish tank with a weird looking brownish white fish swimming around inside. He reached out his finger and tapped the outside of the glass bowl where the fish was close to.

"Shit!" He muttered in surprise when the fish lunged at the glass where his finger used to be and snapped its jaw furiously opened and shut. _It's a freakin piranha!_ _Leave it to Lucas to get a psycho man-eating fish as a pet._ God, that kid was weird.

"Nathan?" He heard a weak voice whimper from the couch.

Within seconds, Nathan was by her side. "Yeah, I'm here. Lucas and Brooke are on their way. How are you feeling?"

"Oh God," Haley groaned and her face flushed.

Nathan anticipated this and grabbed the garbage can he had placed next to her and held it up as she puked into it. "I guess not good." He murmured to himself.

"Haley!" Brooke yelled as she burst through the front door and ran over to her friend, pushing Nathan out of the way in the process. "Oh my God, what happened?"

"Brooke, can you please stop screaming?" Haley pleaded in a weak voice. Nathan chuckled slightly as Brooke broke into a smile. She was going to be ok!

"Nathan, can I talk to you?" Lucas asked from the front door.

Nathan walked outside so he could talk to Lucas without alarming Haley about the events of the night.

"So, what happened?" Lucas asked after he had shut the door.

"Some guy, his name was Chris, basically got her so wasted that she couldn't move." Nathan said bluntly, not even trying to hide the anger that was evident in his voice.

"I don't get it. Haley doesn't drink. How could she get drunk?"

"Chris said he mixed vodka in with her water until she was too drunk to notice it anymore. Listen, you really need to keep an eye on her, he said he gave her about 15 cups of vodka." Nathan said in a low voice.

"15! Oh my God, she could have alcohol poisoning, or-"

"I know, but I think she's going to be fine. She recognized me when she woke up a few minutes ago and she already threw up once. But I don't think she'll remember this tomorrow." Nathan said as he jammed his hands into his pockets.

"Ok." Lucas said as he started to turn around and go back into the condo and Nathan started to walk towards his own. "Hey Nathan," Lucas called from the doorway.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

* * *

Nathan had fallen asleep on the couch after he had entered into his own condo. He had been watching TV in an unsuccessful attempt to get an unconscious Haley out of his mind. 

At about 1:00 AM, Tim had finally stumbled through the door and woken Nathan up. "Nate, get out of my bed." He slurred.

"You're an idiot." Nathan mumbled as he stood up and headed for his bedroom. Beating the crap out of Tim would have to wait because he was so tired.

"What did I do?" Tim asked honestly.

"First of all Tim, it's not cool to put vodka into girls' water, and it's definitely not cool when you give other guys ideas like that." Nathan almost yelled.

"Oh, is this about that Lucas's friend chick?" Tim asked, not even noticing that his words really didn't make sense. "How was I supposed to know that Chris was going to use my brilliant idea? And shouldn't you keep your voice down? Isn't Peyton sleeping?"

Nathan didn't care if Peyton was sleeping; right now he just wanted to tell Tim what was on his mind. "It doesn't matter if you thought Chris wouldn't use your little 'tip', the whole idea of getting girls wasted without them knowing is just wrong man. Haley could have been really sick and it's partly your fault!" Why did Tim have to be such an idiot all the time?

"Sorry, Nate. God, why do you care so much? She's Lucas's friend." Tim pointed out as he collapsed on the couch.

_Because she my friend too you asshole!_ Nathan felt like screaming out. "Because no one deserves to be treated the way she was." He responded shortly and then retreated into his room and succumbed to much needed sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Hey everyone. Thank you so much for the reviews! I know I say that every time, but I really do appreciate them. So here it is…Chapter 12.

_Disclaimer:_ Only in my dreams do I own One Tree Hill…

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 12**

It was past noon the next day when Nathan finally awake to a soft knock on his bedroom door. "Go away, Tim." Nathan mumbled as he buried his head under his pillow.

"It's Haley." A soft voice called from the other side of the closed door.

_Haley._ A thousands thoughts and emotions ran through his head at hearing her speak to him; the most dominant of them was the relief in knowing that she was fine. He quickly pulled on some sweatpants over his boxers and opened the door. "Hey," he said with a smile in a somewhat sleepy voice.

Without really thinking about it, she walked under his arm and collapsed on his unmade bed which was still warm in the spot that his sleeping body had laid in just moments ago. She silently thanked the Lord that all of his shades were drawn and that there was darkness at the moment in his room. She just laid on the bed for a few moments with her arms over her head and her eyes closed, trying to think about what to say.

Nathan watched her with an amused smirk on his face. _Did she come over here just to sleep in my dark room?_ "So you're still hung-over?" He guessed with a small laugh.

"Yeah," she whined. She hadn't been hung-over since the first and only time she had ever gotten drunk a few years ago. She had only had one and a half beers, but the headache that had followed had been enough to convince her that if she never had anymore alcohol for the rest of her life it would be too soon. That headache, multiplied by 100, equaled this one.

"Yeah, you were pretty out of it last night." Nathan plopped down on his back next to her and stared at the ceiling.

"Peyton let me in, I hope that's ok." Haley said, suddenly feeling the need to clarify how she got into his condo.

"Yeah, it's cool." Nathan looked over at her and could see that her eyes were still shut and her arms tightly hugged her forehead. "Do you remember anything that happened last night?" He asked, making sure to keep his voice just above a whisper so he didn't hurt her head any more than it already hurt.

"Not really." She admitted. "I just know what Lucas told me, which isn't much. He did tell me that you brought me home though, so I just wanted to stop by and thank you."

"It was nothing. I'd do that for pretty much anyone." He joked.

"Oh really?" She said playfully as she finally opened her eyes and removed her hands from her head.

"Nah, only for one of my friends." He responded genuinely. He looked over at her to see her looking back at him and felt a smile spread across his face.

She was so happy to hear him acknowledge that they were, in fact, friends. She had felt that they were friends, but never really knew if he would call them that because of the whole 'Lucas' scenario. "Well, I guess that makes you a pretty good friend."

* * *

"What a night, huh?" Brooke said as she walked in on Lucas feeding his pet piranha.

"Yeah, did you get much sleep?" He asked casually as he closed the cap of the fish food bottle.

"Not too much." The truth was that she hadn't gotten any. She had been up all night either holding Haley's hair as she threw up or worrying over her friend as she lay sleeping.

"Well, hopefully you'll get some more tonight." Lucas looked over at Brooke to see her silky brown hair falling messily to her shoulders. It was noon, but neither of them had really woken up yet.

"Yeah…" Brooke said as she looked out the big glass doors leading to the balcony and watched the waves cashing down. She couldn't help but think of how close she had gotten to spilling her feelings to Lucas the night before. Would she ever have the courage to do it again?

"Hey, you were about to tell me something last night." Lucas reminded her as if reading her thoughts.

"Yeah, about that, um…how about we just forget it?" Brooke said pleadingly. Surely that little interruption last night was some kind of sign or omen.

"Okay…" Lucas said slowly. Man this girl confused him.

* * *

A few weeks had passed since the party incident and everything was getting back to normal. Lucas was getting over his fear of crabs, Brooke continued to hide her feelings, Peyton only watched Jake from the beach and never got the nerve to talk to him, and Tim was his normal idiotic self. The only thing that had really changed from a few weeks prior was the fact that Nathan and Haley now considered the other a friend and could now be seen talking to each other in public every so often.

Lucas and Brooke both just assumed that it was some sort of gratitude thing, not hating the guy that brought you home when you were completely wasted, while Tim and Peyton both assumed it was some sort of mercy thing.

"Isn't it weird having so many brothers and sisters?" Nathan asked as he carefully trimmed the edges off of a slightly overgrown bush in the front of the condos. "I mean, did you ever, I don't know, like fight for your parents' attention?"

"All the time!" Haley responded enthusiastically as she dug a hole to plant a few flowers. "But, I liked growing up in a big family. It was never boring." She pointed out.

"Yeah, I always wanted a brother or sister, then I found out about Lucas and, well, I didn't really want one anymore." Nathan smiled.

Haley completely understood that Nathan did not like Lucas and she really didn't hold it against him. There was no law that said one person had to like another, but that didn't stop her from wishing that her two best guy friends would get along every now and then.

"You're doing a wonderful job, Haley." Whitey praised as he walked up behind the two to inspect their work. "Nathan, I think you missed a spot." The old man said as he pointed to a nearby bush.

"Ok, Whitey, I got it." Nathan rolled his eyes as he walked over to the bush and carelessly chopped about half of it off. "Oops."

Haley covered her mouth so a laugh wouldn't escape. The bush now looked completely ridiculous! She knew Nathan well enough to know that he had done that on purpose, probably because Whitey had nagged him about it in the first place.

"Damn it Nathan! Look what you did! Now I'm going to have to buy a brand new bush!" Whitey exclaimed.

Nathan tried his hardest to stifle a laugh. He loved to get the old man all riled up. "My bad."

"Oh, never mind; just don't let it happen again." Whitey walked away as quickly as he had come, leaving Nathan and Haley to stare at the disfigured bush.

"Nice work." Haley said sarcastically.

"Thanks," he replied, showing that famous grin of his. He turned to the next bush and started to trim it carefully again.

Haley bent down and gently pulled the little purple flowers out of the plastic containers they had been resting in and set them in the hole.

"Hey Nathan," Tim said as he walked up to them. "Haley." He said, acknowledging her presence.

Haley knew about the role Tim played in the whole Chris Keller ordeal a few weeks ago and had completely forgiven him. How was he supposed to know what Chris would do? Granted, the whole idea of putting vodka in water is totally wrong…but…._Stop ranting, Haley._

"So, Nate, did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Nathan asked, already pretty uninterested in what Tim was about to say.

"There's a whipped cream bikini contest down at the beach tonight. We are so there!" Tim held his hand up in the air, obviously looking for a high five, and was disappointed when Nathan left him hanging.

"I don't think so, Tim. I have to work tomorrow." Nathan answered as he went back to chopping off bits and pieces of the green shrub.

"Come on, man. This is a WHIPPED CREAM BIKINI CONTEST. You live for this stuff!"

Haley looked up from her flower planting, curious to hear his response. She had gotten the feeling that Nathan really didn't enjoy things like that as much as he proclaimed to.

"I can't tonight." Nathan said simply.

"Whatever," Tim said, almost in a hurt tone, and then turned to leave.

"Tim," Nathan called after him. "How about this weekend we go shoot some hoops or something?" He suggested. Ever since the Haley incident, Nathan had sort have been giving Tim the cold shoulder. Haley had given him grief about if for weeks, saying she was fine and that Tim didn't know what was going to happen. He knew that she just wanted to see them be good friends again, but it still got on his nerves a little bit. How could she be so sweet towards a person that was partially the reason that she was nearly hauled off to Chris Keller's place?

Both Tim and Haley smiled wide as Tim eagerly accepted and then went back up to the condo.

"That was really nice, Nathan." Haley praised. "Did you see how happy that made him?"

He had seen, but he had also seen how happy it made her, which in itself was a motivating factor. Did she have any idea how damn cute she could be?

Haley watched him laugh and noticed that his laughter made her even happier. Her smile grew 10 times wider as she watched him. Did he have any idea how cute he could be?

Just then, Nathan's cell phone rang from his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and fumbled to get it opened. "Hello?" He said once he had finally succeeded. "Hey Mom."

Haley studied Nathan's face carefully. He really didn't talk about his mother too much, she had always just assumed that maybe Deb was a sore spot, kind of like Dan was to Lucas.

"What? Tonight?" Nathan almost yelled.

Haley saw a hint of anger creep across his face.

"Yeah, bye." Nathan roughly hung up the phone and looked up to see Haley watching him with questioning eyes. She was obviously waiting for an explanation. "Apparently my parents are driving down to have dinner with me tonight." He sighed.

"Well, that sounds nice." Haley replied in a sweet tone.

"Yeah, well it's not." He replied bitterly. He really didn't want to deal with Deb and Dan right now. This whole summer was about getting away from them.

Haley suddenly realized what it meant that Nathan's parents were coming down for an evening with their son, that Dan's other son was going to be right across the hall. _Oh boy._


	13. Chapter 13

Hey everyone. Your reviews are awesome! Keep it up! This chapter really isn't all that important, I just wanted to introduce Dan and Deb to the story, but I think it's fun to read, so... enjoy chapter 13…

_Disclaimer:_ One Tree Hill belongs to the CW…although it would seem that they don't want it.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

A Summer to Remember Chapter 13 

"Nathan?" A woman's voice called as a loud knock was heard on the door of condo number 10.

_Shit. They're here._ Nathan thought as he picked up Tim's boxers off the couch and threw them into his own room. He had really been hoping that his mother's call had been some sort of bad dream.

"Come on Nathan, open the damn door." Dan yelled.

"Ugh." Nathan let out a sigh as he reached for the doorknob and swung the door opened.

"Nathan!" Deb squealed in delight as she flung herself into her son's arms. "It's so good to see you."

"You know son, it's hard to believe that you've actually been living on your own down here for almost 5 weeks. I never would have bet past 3." Dan mused as he let himself into the condo.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dad." Nathan said sarcastically.

"Oh, don't mind your father." Deb said annoyed. "He's just been an ass since his golf partner quit on him."

"Oh, please, Duante couldn't hit the green if it was 2 feet in front of him and I swear he hit at least two people every time he drove the golf cart." Dan defended himself by mentioning Duante's unflattering characteristics.

"You know Dan, maybe that right there is the reason that Duante quit." Deb accused. "You're always putting others down. Why can't you ever just face the fact that maybe you're the one with a problem?"

"Right, this from the ex-drug addict." Dan laughed.

"Enough!" Nathan yelled. "If I wanted to listen to you guys fight, I'd just go home!" The only reason he had even considered moving to the beach for the summer in the first place was to get away from them.

"You're right, hunny. Sorry." Deb apologized as Dan rolled his eyes. "So where's Timmy at?" She asked, changing the subject.

"He's at some contest at the beach." Nathan replied shortly as he leant up against the kitchen counter.

"Why aren't you there?" Dan asked in a low tone as he turned on the big screen TV and searched for a basketball game to watch.

"Because you're here," Nathan mumbled.

"What?" Deb asked sweetly. "Nathan, how many times have I told you not to mumble like that?"

"I said, because I have to work tomorrow." Nathan covered.

"Work?" Dan laughed. "If you had just stayed home all summer you wouldn't have to work."

"It's not like that, Dad." Nathan said, annoyed at how easily his father got under his skin.

"Where do you work?" Deb asked as she poured herself a glass of water.

"Here." Nathan said, trying to avoid the question as much as possible. He really didn't feel like going in to why he had to clean this place for the rest of the summer.

"Here? Come on. Tell us what job you could possibly have in this place." Dan said sarcastically.

Great, now he was going to have to go into the long story about how Lucas had moved in next door and how he had wanted him gone…a few empty spray-cans, a screaming Haley, and a very pissed Whitey later, he had a job. "Stuff." He responded, showing no emotion.

"Stuff? Wow, congratulations Son, you really outdid yourself with that explanation." Dan smirked. Deb watched her son closely, why was he avoiding this question?

"I do some cleaning and stuff." Nathan said as he too poured himself a drink.

"What? You clean this dump? I'm assuming the pay is good." Dan had finally settled on a UK game. "Come on Morris! Get the rebound!" He cheered at the screen.

"Yeah, I don't get paid." Nathan said quickly, hoping no one would hear.

"What? Nathan, why would you do all that work for no money?" Deb asked, completely bewildered.

"I don't know." Nathan mumbled, but spoke up a little louder when his mom gave him a stern look.

"It's not your choice is it?" Dan laughed sinisterly. "You got in trouble for something and your punishment is being the janitor of this place. Am I right?" Dan was laughing hysterically by now; apparently the thought of his son having to clean condos was just too funny.

"What happened?" Deb asked in response to Nathan's silence.

"Nothing, Mom." Nathan clearly didn't want to talk about it so Dan pressed harder.

"Come on Nate, tell us what you did." He pushed.

"I just got caught pulling a dumb prank, ok. Can we just leave it alone?" Nathan was thoroughly frustrated by this time. Why couldn't his parents ever just mind their own damn business? "Do you guys want to order a pizza or go out?" He tried to change the subject.

"I want to know what sort of prank would get you in so much trouble that you would have to take on a job like this." Deb demanded.

"It was nothing, I just spray-painted some grass." Nathan took another swig of his drink, which he had filled with alcohol without his parents knowing.

"Why?" Dan smirked.

"Because Lucas is living right across from me!" Nathan exploded as Deb and Dan fell silent. "That's why I did it. Because your 'son' is-"

"Don't call him that." Dan warned.

"Because your son is living right across the hall in condo number 9 all summer!" Nathan finished. "I painted the grass to try to get him kicked out. There, you happy?"

"How did they know it was you?" Dan asked suddenly, breaking the silence that had fallen.

"I got caught." Nathan said simply.

"How did you get caught? Weren't you at least smart enough to do this at night?" Dan asked. Deb just stared at her drink wondering where they had gone so wrong as parents that there son would vandalize someone else's property to get his own brother in trouble.

"Someone saw me." Nathan really didn't want to bring Haley into his family's drama.

"What do you mean? If it was dark, how did they see you?" Dan was growing increasingly more interested in this story because it seemed like Nathan was purposely leaving something out.

"She was running and she saw me. End of story."

"Somehow I sense that there is a lot more to the story than that." Dan smirked. "Was she…well built?" He winked.

"Dad!" Nathan hated it when his dad asked him questions like that, and he definitely hated it when he asked him questions like that about Haley.

"Dan, just stop badgering him!" Deb yelled before entering the bathroom and closing the door.

"Well, was she?" Dan obviously wasn't going to give this one up.

"Just shut up, Dad." Nathan finished off the beer and poured himself some more.

"Oh, I've struck a nerve." Dan joked. "So, do I know this chick?"

"Dad, I'm serious, I don't want to talk about it." There was no way that Nathan was willingly going to talk to Dan about Haley. He knew what Dan was like, if he found out that Nathan had to work with her, he would bring it up for years to come, probably get a background check on her, and make vulgar comments about her whenever possible.

"Well, just tell me who this girl is. I'll see if I can't find something on her to get her word discredited." Dan said simply.

"No, Dad. You don't have to do that." Nathan's anger was growing more evident by the second. _Why can't he just back off and leave me to live my own life?_

"But I want to Nathan. I don't want you wasting your summer cleaning a damn building."

"I don't want you to. In fact, all I want you to do is stay out of it."

"Whatever you say, son." Dan winked.

"Sorry, Nathan, I forgot my phone." Peyton said as she entered the condo. "Oh, hey Mr. Scott."

Nathan was beyond relieved that Peyton had walked in and disrupted the conversation.

"I, uh, I've just got to grab my phone." She excused herself into her bedroom. She had tickets to a Fall Out Boy concert with a few of her other friends and was not going to be late for anything.

"Peyton." Dan called after her as she emerged from her room carrying her cell phone. "What's the name of the girl that caught Nathan spray painting the grass?"

Nathan vigorously shook his head, but Peyton didn't notice until it was too late. "You mean Haley James?"

Nathan put his hands to his head. _Great._

"Haley James, you don't say? Isn't she Lucas's friend?" Dan smirked, this was too good.

"Um, I think I'm going to go." Peyton said, sensing the weirdness in the air. She realized now that Nathan wasn't going to tell Dan about Haley. "Sorry, Nate."

Nathan just waved at her and then turned to his dad. "Dad-"

"She's staying with Lucas, isn't she?" Dan wondered aloud.

"No." Nathan said forcefully.

"You know son, you were never good at lying." Dan pointed out as Nathan rolled his eyes. "In fact, I think I'm going to go pay her a visit and give her a piece of my mind."

"Dad, just leave her alone!" Nathan couldn't take it anymore. His dad was such an ass.

"Nathan, this girl obviously just wants to make things hard for you, and I won't stand for it." Dan made a movement for the door but Nathan stepped in front of him.

"Why do you think you can just control my life?" Nathan questioned.

"What's going on out here?" Deb asked as she finally emerged from the bathroom.

"Nothing, dear, I'm just going to go talk some sense into the neighbor girl." Dan responded happily.

"No you're not." Nathan said coldly.

"Dan, I think it's time for us to go." Deb responded. "I'm sorry, Nathan."

"Whatever." Nathan mumbled as he watched his mother push his father out the door. Nathan stepped into the hall and gave his father a stern look when he started to turn towards Lucas's door. Dan and Deb continued forward until they were out of sight and Nathan could finally breathe easy. _Finally._ Was it any wonder that he had wanted to move out for the summer when he had them for parents?


	14. Chapter 14

Hey guys, thanks so much for being such loyal readers! I adore you! I don't know what the deal is, but for some reason, sometimes some of you can only see up to cartain chapters. I'm sorry about that and I have no idea how to fix it... anyway, next chapter is here…don't forget to review…please. hehe.

_Disclaimer:_ If I could pick one thing to own that I don't already, it would be One Tree Hill or James Lafferty, but I can't. :-(

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 14**

"That bad?" Haley questioned Nathan the next day as she spread wax onto the floor of Whitey's office. Apparently, it was looking a bit "dull".

"Yeah," Nathan confirmed as he recalled his parents' visit from the night before. Just the thought of them made him angry all over again. It was almost as if their purpose in life was to annoy him.

"I'm sorry. I really wish you could have a better relationship with them." She responded sincerely. "I don't know what I would do without my parents."

"Believe me, if my parents were yours, you'd do everything you could to stay away from them too." Nathan stood up and shot his bag into the bucket of warm wax. "Shit," he muttered when drops of wax splattered all over the area of the floor that he ahd just finished.

"Well, from what you told me about them, I was surprised that your dad didn't pay a visit to Lucas." Haley chuckled as she quickly wiped up the wet wax, she didn't want Nathan to have to do this whole space again.

"Thanks," he said when he saw her cleaning up his mess. "Yeah, he almost did go over to your condo." Nathan decided to let her think that Dan had wanted to see Lucas, it was just easier than having to explain why Dan wanted to see her and why Nathan wouldn't let him. Nathan didn't even understand that last part himself. He knew Haley could have dealt with Dan and probably easily convinced him that his own son was in the wrong, but somehow when Dan mentioned going to 'have a word' with Haley, Nathan had become extremely protective of her.

"What stopped him?" Haley asked curiously as she dipped her rag into the bucket and then walked back over to the place that she had left off in her waxing.

"Uh, I did. I didn't want him to cause a scene." Nathan said simply as he caught the rag that she threw back to him.

"Did I just hear that right? You defended Lucas? Against your dad?" Haley teased.

"No." _I defended you. _"Like I said, I just didn't want to get in anymore trouble with Whitey than I already am." Nathan looked down at the floor that his rag was currently coating with wax in hopes that she would drop the subject. She did.

"So, I was watching Shark week on the discovery channel the other day, and did you know that a shark's tooth can be bigger than 5 inches long?"

"What? Hales, I really don't want to know how big a shark's tooth can get when I'm living on a beach." Nathan laughed; it was so easy for her to make him laugh.

Haley smiled as his infectious laugh filled the room. She loved hearing his laugh. The truth was, it wasn't shark week on the discovery channel for a few more weeks and Haley didn't even know if her shark fact had been correct, but she also knew that Nathan wouldn't know. She had sensed some tension in the air from their previous topic of conversation and just wanted to lighten the tone a bit. "Ok, sorry, no more shark talk. Promise." Haley held up her hand as if to take an oath. "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know, how about basketball?" Nathan suggested playfully, knowing that it was one of her least favorite topics of discussion.

"Nathan, you know how I don't like to talk about basketball." She whined.

"Have you ever even played?" Nathan questioned with a laugh.

"Yes!" Haley defended herself. "But I stink; I didn't even hit the goal thing, or whatever it is, one time!"

"Well, how far away were you?" He joked. Was she serious?

"I don't know, like a few feet." She responded sheepishly. Lucas made fun of her all the time for her lack of talent when it came to sports.

"Wow, ok, um, how about I show you how to make it in someday?" He asked, more serious this time.

Haley was slightly surprised at his genuine offer. Lucas always made fun of her, but never offered to teach her how to really do it. "I would like that." She smiled.

* * *

"Where are you off to, Broody?" Brooke called from the living room as Lucas walked in wearing a nice polo shirt and some kakis. 

"If you must know, I have a date." He answered with a chuckle.

"What?" Brooke tried her hardest to hide the hurt she was feeling. "During the day?"

"It's a day date!" Lucas defended himself.

"What kind of whore would want to go on a day date?" Brooke questioned under her breath.

"I'm sorry, are you mad at me?" Lucas asked incredulously. He never did understand women, how could they go from happy to pissed in about one second?

"No!" Brooke yelled, obviously upset about something.

"Are you mad that I have a date?" Lucas looked into her eyes and for the first time, saw something he had never seen before. He couldn't quite place it.

"No."

"You are aren't you? Why are you mad that I'm going on a date?" Lucas was completely intrigued and was anxious to hear her answer.

"Because I love you!" She shouted out before slamming the palm of her hand to her mouth. Did she really just let that one slip?

Lucas stared at her with his eyes wide. Brooke was his friend. I mean, sure he had thought about her in that way a few times, but always dismissed the thoughts because of their friendship. Now that he knew her feelings, he couldn't help but feel the surfacing of similar feelings of his own.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that, I don't know what came over me, I just was feeling a little jealous I guess-" Brooke was cut off from her rambling as his mouth crashed down upon hers. She had never felt so many emotions in her life, happiness, love, excitement, confusion…

"What about your date?" She whispered after pulling away a few moments later.

"I was supposed to go to a crab house, alone, the only purpose of it was to get over my fear." He laughed as he nuzzled her nose with his. "And I love you too."

Brooke smiled and pulled him into another kiss as the rest of the world faded around them.

* * *

Peyton lazily flipped through the different records that she held in her hand, looking for one that would pique her interest. Nothing. Nathan had to work today, and Tim had some sort of party to got to, leaving Peyton alone to be bored all day. Who goes to a party in the early afternoon anyway? 

She had wondered down the street to the nearest record store and begun to browse through the entire collection that the store had, only finding about 5 that actually interested her.

She was surprised when she heard a bell ding above the door and looked up to see a tall dark haired guy with a baby enter. _Jake!_ Peyton was excited to see him, she really felt like they had made a connection a few weeks ago, but also felt childish for being nervous around him. She hadn't even talked to him since the party…

"Hey Peyton," He called as he grinned and waved at her.

She walked over to him and waved to Jenny. "Hey Jake, how are you?"

"I'm ok. Sorry I've been kind of avoiding you lately. Jenny was sick and I didn't want to give anything to you." He said sincerely.

"It's perfectly fine." Peyton responded quickly with a smile. "Hey girlie, how are you?" She asked as she bent over the baby.

Her answer was a loud string of 'goos' and 'gahs' to which she laughed good naturedly. "So what have you been up to?" Peyton asked, turning to Jake again.

"Oh, not much really. Beach, work, Jenny. I actually had half of the day off today so I decided to come down and get some new music." He reached over and picked up a Fall Out Boy CD.

"You like Fall Out Boy?" She asked with a smile.

"Yeah, you don't?"

"Are you kidding? I love them! The way they mix good music with deep and entirely random lyrics really makes the songs fun to listen to." Peyton responded.

"Are you a musician?" He questioned curiously.

"No, God no. I can't carry a tune to save my life. I just appreciate the music."

"Oh." He smiled and then looked at his watch. "Listen, I really need to get going, I have to start work in an hour, but, if you want, maybe we could get a bit to eat tomorrow night? I'll be baby free." Jake grinned as he thought of the prospect of going out on a date with the beautiful girl in front of him.

"Yeah, sounds good." She beamed.

"Great, I'll pick you up at 7:00?"

"Yeah." They said goodbye and then Jake and Jenny exited the store. "It's a date." She said to herself as she felt butterflies forming in her stomach.

* * *

"So then what happened?" Haley questioned as she and Nathan finished up for the day and walked toward the closet that held the cleaning supplies to return their buckets and rags. 

"Nothing, I totally got let off the hook." Nathan laughed as he recalled one of the times had snuck out, gotten drunk, and then returned to find his parents waiting for him…good times.

"That is unbelievable!" She laughed. "If I would have pulled a stunt like that, I'd be grounded for weeks."

"At least your parents care enough to ground you." Nathan said solemnly, changing the mood.

Haley gave him a sympathetic look before her cell phone went off, breaking the silence.

"Hello?" She answered after rooting through her bag to find the origin of the loud ringing.

"Hello?" She asked again when no one answered. "Anyone there?"

She was about to hang up when a low voice spoke from the other side of the connection. "I'm coming for you."

Haley froze, something about the voice was vaguely familiar to her. Nathan noticed that she had stopped walking with him and approached her. Noticing the petrified look in her eyes and the silence from the phone, he quickly grabbed it.

"Who the hell is this?" He asked in a slightly annoyed tone, mostly because the idiot on the other line had obviously said something to upset Haley. All he heard was the dial tone.


	15. Chapter 15

I love all of you guys…that's pretty much all I have to say. :-) Enjoy!!

_Disclaimer:_ I do own One Tree Hill and even James Lafferty…in my dreams.

Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 15**

_Jackass, _Nathan thought as he hung up Haley's cell phone. "Who was it?" He asked and handed the phone back to her. "You ok?" he was obviously concerned when she didn't answer him, but instead, had closed her eyes and put her hand to her head as if she was trying to remember something.

That voice had been so familiar to her; she just couldn't seem to place it. Although she couldn't remember who the voice belonged to, she couldn't help the slight recognition and dread that spread through her entire body upon hearing those 4 little words. "Um, yeah, it was just a stupid prank call." She answered with a forced smile and then continued forward.

Nathan didn't believe her, she was a terrible liar. He decided to try and let it go for now since she apparently didn't want to talk about it, but if that asshole called again, he would surely give the bastard a piece of his mind. What kind of loser prank calls a girl in the middle of the day and purposely scares the shit out of her? What did he say anyway? "Are you sure?" Nathan asked carefully in order to keep from upsetting her.

"Oh, yeah, it sounded like a little 12 year old." She lied again. It definitely didn't sound like a 12 year old, and Nathan could tell that from the way she had reacted from the phone call in the first place. Her whole body had stiffened up, her eyes grew 5 times wider, and she had frozen in place. Either this call had really spooked her, or she was just really gullible.

"You're probably right." He mumbled as the two started again to walk back towards the stairs to return to the third floor now that their work was finished.

As soon as the pair reached the top of the first flight of stairs, Haley's cell phone started to ring again.

"Let me answer it." Nathan pleaded. He wanted to 'have a word' with the punk on the other end that kept calling her phone.

"It's my mom." She said as she let out a relieved breath after looking at the caller id. "Hey, mom."

"Haley, thank goodness I got a hold of you." Lydia said frantically.

"Mom, what's wrong?" Nathan looked at Haley and tried to figure out what the conversation was about from the expression of worry written on her face.

"Your uncle, Bobby, escaped from jail last night." Her mother answered somberly.

The news hit Haley like a ton of bricks, for a second she had to remind herself to breathe. "Ok…well…have they found him yet?" She forced out. Nathan grew increasingly more concerned as he watched her face go from happy at hearing her mother's voice to completely petrified of whatever she had just told her.

"No…Haley Bub, please be careful, ok? Tell Lucas, or some other big guy to keep an eye on you." Lydia warned.

"Um, yeah, ok, I will. I love you mom." Haley was very close to tears by now; it couldn't be true, could it? Had her uncle really escaped from jail?

"I love you too, sweaty." Her mom hung up as a salty tear escaped from Haley's eye, this did not go unnoticed by Nathan.

"Hey, hey, it's ok." He soothed as he pulled her into a hug. He had no idea what Lydia had just told her, but the fact that it made her cry said a lot. "What happened?"

"Um, my uncle…he escaped…from jail." She said as the tears started to flow freely into Nathan's shirt as she buried her head in his shoulder.

**Flashback**

"_But mom, I don't want to eat the peas!" A ten year old Haley protested as her mom shoveled peas onto her dinner plate._

"_Haley Bub, they are good for you. You have to eat at least 2 bites of them before you can get up." Lydia said simply._

"_Daddy, tell her that I don't have to eat them."_

"_Just shut up and eat you peas, Haley." Taylor called from across the table as Haley stuck her tongue out at her._

"_That's enough girls. Haley, eat your peas. Taylor, stop instigating trouble with your sister." Jimmy warned sternly, but still in his usual lighthearted tone._

"_What's for dinner?" Bobby called as he entered the James' household. He was the older brother of Jimmy James, but no one would ever guess it. Bobby had light hair, where Jimmy's was brown. Bobby was, let's just say, round, while Jimmy was thin. Bobby was naturally in a bad mood all the time, while Jimmy seemed to always be in a good one. _

"_Fried chicken." Lydia sing-songed from the stove as she turned off the oven that held the rolls. Bobby had been staying with the James's while he tried to get back on his feat after losing all the money he had betting on high school basketball games. _

"_Sound's great." Bobby looked over at Haley who had not touched the food that was on her plate and then to Taylor who had already finished half of hers. "Why aren't you eating?" He demanded sternly, receiving no answer from Haley. She had gotten in the habit of not speaking to him, for fear of being yelled at. _

"_Haley Bub, we already told you that you have to eat your peas." Her father said._

"_Is that the problem? You don't want to eat your peas?" Bobby laughed. "I think we should have a little talk, Haley."_

_Those words were the few words that Haley had grown to fear the most in the few months that Bobby had stayed with them. He always found something that she was doing wrong, and then had a 'discussion' with her. Her parents never objected because they had no idea what went on during these 'discussions' and they wouldn't know until she was finally hospitalized for a few days because of it. _

"_Come on, we'll go outside to the shed and talk." Bobby smiled. Haley had no choice but to go with him. _

_She followed him out to the tool shed where she awaited his cruel punishment as he locked the door. "Please don't." She begged, anticipating what was to come. _

"_Haley, you know what happens when you don't follow the rules." Bobby justified as he slapped her across the face. She started crying as he continued to beat her until he was satisfied with his show of superior strength and then returned inside to eat._

_Haley cried on the floor of the shed as she held her hurt arm where her uncle's foot had kicked her just moments ago. Why did he always pick on her? She had contemplated telling her parents once about what he kept doing to her, but was scared away from the idea when Bobby told her that they wouldn't believe her and would be mad that she accused him of such things. So, she had hidden the bruises on her arms and legs by saying that she had just been really cold lately and wearing long sleeved shirts and pants._

"_Where's Haley?" Jimmy asked good naturedly as Bobby re-entered the kitchen._

"_She wanted to stay behind and think about her actions for a few more minutes." Bobby explained as he stuffed a whole piece of bread into his mouth at one time, not even caring that he had just hit his 10 year old niece to boost his own self esteem._

**End Flashback**

Nathan felt his throat tighten as she finished her story of who exactly her uncle was. So that's why she had had a cast on her arm for a few weeks in fourth grade. He felt anger rising in him as her sobs continued to stain his shirt.

The whole thing had been a long time ago, and when her parents found out, they had wasted no time in bringing the police into the matter. Bobby had gone to jail and Haley had moved on with her life, but not without quite a few emotional scars. All the memories came flooding back to her at this moment and she finally realized who had called her a few minutes before with the cryptic message and why she had recognized the voice. It was Bobby.

She dug her face further into his shoulder as he patiently stroked her hair and waited for her to calm down. It was obvious that this guy had traumatized her and even upon hearing his voice, she completely lost it.

All Nathan wanted to do was find the sorry excuse for a man and beat the shit out of him as he probably had done to Haley many times. God, just thinking about it made him want to punch someone. Nathan felt the same feeling he had felt at the party a few weeks ago wash over him again, he felt the need to protect the girl in his arms against anything that made her cry, anything that made her as scared as she was right now.

"Come on, let's go upstairs and tell Lucas what's going on." Nathan whispered in her ear.

She nodded slightly, not wanting to leave his strong embrace. She was scared out of her mind right now, thinking of her uncle did that to her, but somehow, she had never felt safer.

* * *

"I never realized how much I wanted this until now," Lucas breathed heavily as he and Brooke made out on the couch.

"Me neither." She whispered. She was happier at this moment than she could ever remember being in her whole life. Lucas loved her!

"Go out with me." He asked suddenly, in between kisses.

"What?" She laughed, she had not expected that.

"Tomorrow night, go out with me. To dinner, to a movie, I don't care as long as I'm with you."

Broke smiled and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. She quickly dialed a few numbers and then spoke in French to someone on the other line. Lucas watched her, completely bewildered. "There." She smiled. "We now have reservations at the Beach Palm, the most exclusive restaurant on the east coast."

Lucas laughed as he pulled her in for another kiss, he just couldn't get enough of her.

The moment was broken when the door was pushed open by Haley who walked in with puffy red eyes. Apparently, Nathan had let her do this part on her own.

"Tutor girl, what's wrong?" Brooke said as she saw the pathetic state that her friend was in and rushed over to pull her into a hug.

"My uncle, Bobby, escaped from jail." Her voice was emotionless as she broke the news to a shocked and speechless Brooke and Lucas. Haley hadn't even noticed that Lucas and Brooke had looked awful cozy when she walked in…

"Oh my God, did you see him?" Brooke asked with wide eyes.

"No, my mom called me and told me." She explained. She went on to tell them the whole story as Brooke and Lucas stared at her in disbelief.

Lucas remembered the time in fourth grade when Haley had gotten a cast on her arm; she said she had fallen down the steps. Now he knew that it had been Bobby all along, Bobby was the one that Haley always sung about when she thought no one could hear, when she sung about hating someone so much and wanting to run away. Now he was out there in the world and Lucas didn't know what to do or say. How does someone just escape from jail?

Brooke just held her friend in a tight embrace and provided a shoulder to cry on as Haley voiced her fears and her thoughts to the two of them until she calmed down. What were they going to do?


	16. Chapter 16

Thanks so much for all of your reviews…I'm glad to know that you enjoy the story. I am officially on Spring Break now, so hopefully I will be able to get the updates up a little earlier...

_Disclaimer:_ Only in my dreams do I own One Tree Hill…

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 16**

"Still no word from the police?" Nathan asked softly the next day as he and Haley finished up their work. He had tried to avoid the topic all day because he didn't want to upset her, but he just couldn't push the question out of his mind anymore.

"Um…no." Haley said shakily. She had stayed up most of the night talking with Brooke, about her uncle, about shoes, and about the new developments in the Brooke and Lucas relationship. "But it's ok, I'm sure they'll find him soon." She added confidently.

Nathan looked into her eyes and noticed that she really didn't have that much confidence. She was nervous just standing out here in the open and it probably took all the courage she had just to leave the condo today. "Hales, it's ok to be scared." He soothed.

_Ugh,_ she groaned inwardly, _why is it that he can read me like a book?_ "I'm really fine." She confirmed. She was. She felt pretty safe right now, here with Nathan and in the daylight.

Nathan wasn't buying it. She had been hysterical yesterday, was he really supposed to believe that she was fine today? "Whatever you say." He mumbled.

"Hey, I heard that, Scott." She laughed. "It's really not that bad right now in the daytime." Somehow, the bright light of the sun made her feel a little safer.

"What about at night?" He looked into her eyes again, dark blue staring directly into warm brown.

"Nights are harder." She admitted, barely above a whisper. "The shadows just creep me out a little, that's all." She looked away from his gaze fro two reasons. One, she didn't want him to see that she was more than a little afraid of what nighttime would bring, and two, because she didn't want to melt on the spot by staring into his gorgeous eyes any longer. "So what are you doing tonight? Got any big plans?" She asked, trying to change the subject.

"Do you?" He asked with a grin.

"No, I think I'm going to just watch Dawson's Creek reruns all night waiting for Brooke and Lucas to get home."

"Wait, where are they going?" Nathan asked out of concern. She was going to be home alone all night?

"They have a date at some fancy restaurant. They offered to stay home with me, but I told them to go." She explained before Nathan could make an accusation about what terrible friends they were. "So, what about you? You never answered my question."

"I don't know, Tim apparently has some hot date and Peyton's going out with that Jake guy. I think I'm just going to lay on my couch and watch Dawson's Creek reruns." He joked and then laughed when he received a playful shove from Haley.

He had actually been planning on going to the gym and getting a work out in since he couldn't really do it during the day anymore, but upon hearing that Haley was going to be home alone, he decided to change his plans.

Haley felt a little better in knowing that Nathan was going to be right across the hall as she waited all night for Brooke and Lucas to finally return.

As if reading her mind, Nathan spoke up again. "I'll be home all night, if you need anything just come over." He said seriously as the two finally made it to the third floor. "And I give you permission to use the key that Whitey gave you." He added, knowing that she didn't like barging into other people's homes.

"Thanks Nate." She said sincerely as she let herself into her condo. "See you later." She called.

Nathan smiled to himself; he almost hoped that Haley did come over that night. He would certainly be bored without her…

* * *

"Remember, our cells will be on if you need anything." Brooke reminded Haley as she was slowly ushered out the door by her new boyfriend.

"I know, Brooke. You only told me about fifty times." Haley laughed. She would only call them in case of an emergency, this evening was really important to Brooke and seemed to be important to Lucas as well, and Haley didn't want to be the one to ruin that.

"Oh yeah. Bye Tutor girl, we love you!" Brooke called as she blew her friend a kiss and then exited the apartment. Lucas waved to her and then followed his girlfriend, closing the door on the way out.

_Great._ She was alone. She immediately ran up to the door and locked in and then turned the TV on with a click of the remote. Ever since she had been younger, she had always preferred the TV to be on when she was alone; it made the whole atmosphere seem a little less lonely.

Darkness had fallen about a half an hour ago, and Haley could already feel her nerves building. She sat down on the couch and pulled a warm blanket around herself, trying to convince her mind that she was safe under the blanket.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Peyton laughed as she and Jake pulled up into an empty parking lot on a cliff that overlooked the ocean.

"We're here." Jake smiled. They had finished eating and drinking coffee over an hour ago and she had graciously agreed to let him take her to his favorite spot in the world. About an hour later, here they were.

"Oh God, you're going to kill me aren't you?" Peyton joked as she opened her car door and stepped out.

"Yeah, you caught me. I'm actually, I'm going to kill you." Jake played along as he too exited the car.

"Oh my God." Peyton whispered as she finally looked up at the sky and noticed why this was Jake's favorite spot. Every star ever imaginable was visible from this point!

"You like it?" Jake asked sincerely as he walked up behind her.

"It's gorgeous." She responded with a smile.

"That right there is Ursa Major." Jake said as he rested one hand on Peyton's shoulder and the other one pointed towards the constellation in the stars.

Peyton couldn't help the shiver that ran through her at Jake's touch. "I see the north star." She said, proud of herself for remembering something that her 5th grade teacher had taught her.

"You're right. And that right there is-"

Before he could finish, Peyton turned around and softly captured his lips with her own. She didn't know what had come over her, the kiss had been completely on impulse, but she liked it. _Note to self, act on impulse more often._

Jake returned the kiss eagerly as a shooting star passed right over the tops of their heads.

* * *

It was already 1:00 a.m. when Haley looked at the clock again; she had been so absorbed in her TV show that she hadn't even noticed the time go by. But now, Dawson's Creek reruns were over and she sat silently on the couch thinking of something to do to take her mind off of the one thing she kept thinking about, Bobby.

She really didn't expect Brooke and Lucas home for another couple of hours their reservation hadn't been until 9:30, apparently that was the only time available, and the restaurant was about 2 hours away.

Haley's head jerked up as she heard a low toned whistle. _What was that?_ She looked over to the window to see a few palm trees blowing in the wind. _Calm down Haley, it was only the wind._

She got up and walked over to the refrigerator, retrieving her waterbottle and quickly gulping down about half of it.

_Were those footsteps I just heard?_ She asked herself as she stood paralyzed in the kitchen. _Stop acting so paranoid! It's only your imagination!_

There was no way she was going to let her imagination get the best of her. However, when she thought she heard low whispers outside of her door, she quickly changed her mind.

Still wrapped in the blanket, she searched through the kitchen for a piece of paper. When she finally found one, she hurriedly wrote a note to Brooke and Lucas and then placed it on the counter where she knew they would see it. Then she grabbed the key that was sitting next to the note and headed out the door and down the hall to condo number 10.

She felt bad about just going in, but Nathan had told her to, so she inserted the key in the lock, quietly opened the door, and then entered into Nathan's dark apartment. _He must already be asleep._

Haley walked over to the door that she knew to be Nathan's and peeked inside. Sure enough, he looked to be sound asleep in the middle of his bed. She didn't want to wake him, but there was really no point in coming over here if he was going to be asleep the whole time that he was supposed to be keeping her company.

Nathan stirred as a light tap was heard on the doorframe. He pulled himself back to consciousness when he realized who had to be doing the knocking. Tim or Peyton would have just barged into his room if they needed something, so the person on the other side must be Haley.

He looked at the digital clock sitting on his side table and saw that it was 1:07 a.m. Nathan walked over to the door and opened it, silently thanking God that he had gone to bed in sweatpants so he didn't have to look around on the floor for some to put on.

"Hey," She said softly. "I'm sorry to bother you, I just…I don't know, I guess I got a little freaked out so I cam over here…"

"It's fine, I told you that you could." He attempted a smile, but it was kind of a lazy one since he was still half asleep. For the first time, he noticed that she was clinging tightly to a green blanket that was wrapped around her small body and let out a small chuckle.

"What's so funny?" She didn't understand the humor behind this situation, the one where her crazy abusive uncle was on the loose and she had been such a scardy-cat that she woke him up in the middle of the night just to keep her company.

"Nothing." Nathan replied with a grin. "You do know that it's 1:00 in the morning, don't you?" He asked as he leant up against the door frame.

"Yeah," she said as she yawned. She hadn't even realized how little sleep she had gotten in the past 48 hours until now.

"Why don't you get some sleep?" He suggested, "I'll go sleep on the couch."

"No, I don't want to kick you out of your own room." Haley shot down the idea. "Besides, then where would Tim sleep?"

He hadn't really thought that far ahead. He just wanted to see her get some decent sleep, even if that meant giving up his bed.

"I doubt I'd be able to sleep, anyway, in there by myself." She added innocently.

"Whatever, you need to sleep. I'll stay in here with you until you fall asleep, ok?" He suggested.

Another yawn escaped from her lips as she finally agreed to his latest proposition. She walked past him and tiredly crawled under the covers. After a few moments, he walked over to the bed and got under the blankets as well, she had insisted that he should at least get to be warm as he waited in there. After a few minutes, both were moments away from sleep and Haley unknowingly snuggled close to Nathan, resting her head on his bare chest, as he instinctively wrapped his arms protectively around her.


	17. Chapter 17

Hey guys, thanks so much for all of the reviews! They are so amazing... keep reviewing, you are awesome!

_Disclaimer:_ _One Tree Hill does not belong to me…_

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 17**

The sound of a lamp crashing to the floor woke Nathan from his peaceful slumber. _What the hell?_ Nathan thought as he slowly regained consciousness. He internally sighed out of relief when he heard Tim swearing and picking up the pieces of the lamp that were undoubtedly scattered all over the floor.

Then, he felt the small warm body beside him move a little and was quickly wide awake. Haley had not woken up when the sound of a breaking lamp echoed through the condo, she had only stirred a little and buried her face deeper into the strong arm that her head rested on.

Nathan smiled, he could get used to this. _God, she looks beautiful,_ he thought. Her hair was in a messy bun, she was wearing a t-shirt and soffe shorts, and she had absolutely no make-up on, but she still looked gorgeous.

He tried to decide if he should wake her up or not, it was already 10:30 AM. In the end, he chose to let her sleep. Just after making this decision, a loud door slammed outside and Haley woke up anyway.

"Hey," She said groggily as she slowly opened her eyes.

"Good morning. You seem to have gotten a good night sleep." He responded and then noticed that his arm was still wrapped around her and quickly pulled it back to himself. "Sorry."

As his arm left her side, she immediately felt a little colder. "No, it's fine. I probably grabbed onto it anyway. Brooke always gets mad at me because I, like, hug her arm all night. I don't know, it's just a habit. Sorry."

Nathan laughed a little, even after just waking up she could ramble on and on. She was right though, he had lost count of how many times she had snuggled up to his arm and held onto it for dear life. He hadn't really cared though, it just made him smile, and surprisingly enough, he had slept better than he could really ever remember sleeping.

Haley couldn't remember the last time she had slept so well. Sure, the pillow was a little rocky, but other than that, she had no complaints. The only word she could think of to describe the way she felt both last night and this morning was "safe". She felt completely safe.

"I thought you said you were going to go out on the couch." She said playfully.

"Sorry, I fell asleep. Maybe I would have left if _someone_ wouldn't have insisted that I get under the warm blankets." He joked.

"It's ok. I felt better with you in here." She admitted.

"Does Nathan have a girl over?" Tim whispered loudly right outside the door.

"Tim! Get away from there! God, just give him some privacy!" Peyton whisper-yelled as she contemplated throwing a pillow at him. She knew that Nathan did in fact have a girl over, and she also knew that that girl was Haley James. How did she know that? Well, she may have 'accidentally' walked into his room on accident when she finally got home at about 2 in the morning.

Nathan chuckled when he heard a thump from outside of the door and knew that Peyton had thrown a pillow at Tim's head.

"I should probably go home." Haley smiled as she sat up and pulled her hair into a neater ponytail.

"Yeah…" Nathan mumbled as he watched her.

She pushed the warm blankets away from her body and forced herself out of the bed as Nathan did the same. Haley grabbed the blanket that she had brought over the night before and then looked over to see Nathan slip on a Duke t-shirt. "Thanks." She whispered once they got to the door and were on their way out of Nathan's room.

"Hey, it was no problem at all." He assured her softly, his face inches from hers. "Feel free to use your key and wake me up whenever you need to." He added in a joking but still serious tone.

"Thank you." He really had no idea how much it meant to her that he had just said those words to her.

* * *

"So, what happened after you went to Nathan's?" Brooke asked as she nibbled on a pop tart. Haley had gotten home about a half an hour ago and had decided to take a shower once she realized that neither Brooke nor Lucas were awake yet. She also wished that she could erase the fact that she had noticed that Brooke was not sleeping in the bed that they shared… 

"Brooke, I already told you. I went over there and fell asleep. Like I said in my note, I planned on coming back in a few hours, but I was sleeping." Haley was a little frustrated since Brooke had already asked that same question, only in different forms, 3 times.

"Tutor Girl, you know what I mean! Stop avoiding the subject and give me the details! Did you sleep in his bed? Where did he sleep? Oh my God! Did you guys sleep together?"

"Whoa! Calm down, ok." Haley said dramatically. "Yes, I slept in his bed, and yes he slept in the bed too, but no we didn't _sleep together._ Get your mind out of the gutter. I know it's hard for you to imagine, but sometimes people sleep in the same bed without really 'sleeping together'." Haley joked.

"Yeah, I wouldn't really know what that's like, to sleep next to a guy but not sleep _with_ him? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a waste to me." Brooke laughed.

Haley could only imagine what that meant about last night…and she wanted to throw up. Brooke was not in her bed this morning which meant that she was in Lucas's…ew!

Brooke noticed the disgusted look on Haley's face and decided to confirm her assumption with a smirk and a nod of the head.

"Brooke! Oh my Gosh! Can you please not tell me things like that? I don't want to imagine my two best friends hooking up!" She seriously felt like she was going to throw up, that was just too much information.

"Sorry." Brooke giggled.

"What's going on in here?" Lucas asked as he joined the two in the kitchen with messy hair and his shirt was suspiciously absent.

"I'm going to go puke now." Haley said dramatically as Lucas kissed Brooke lightly on the head.

"You're the one who slept with Nathan." Brooke joked as Haley exited the room and Lucas gave her a questioning and disgusted look. "I was kidding." She clarified.

Those 3 words were music to his ears. The thought of Haley, his best friend, with Nathan, his ass of a half-brother, was absolutely repulsive.

* * *

"So, what was up with Haley this morning? Did you finally get her in bed?" Tim asked as he and Nathan played NBA live. Nathan only shook his head in response; Tim could be such an ass sometimes. 

"Oh yeah, have the police caught the creepy uncle guy yet?" Peyton asked in a sort of uninterested way as she flipped through the songs on her iPod, looking for one to listen to as she cleaned her room.

"Not yet." Nathan answered as he beat Tim, yet again, at the video game.

"Nate, you totally cheated!" Tim shouted as Nathan set the controller down and walked into his bedroom looking for his keys. He really wanted to get out and clear his head.

He really didn't know what he was feeling. His mind was so confused. Part of it was telling him that Haley was a friend and could never be anything more because she was Lucas's best friend, but the other part was just screaming at him to just kiss her.

* * *

The day had passed quickly because she had been busy, but now that Haley was getting ready for bed in silence, Brooke was already sleeping soundly, her nerves started to get the better of her again. 

_I'll be fine. Brooke and Lucas are both here tonight,_ she told herself.

As she climbed into the bed, she couldn't help but notice that Nathan's bed was quite a bit softer. She also noticed that she felt considerably less comfortable without Nathan's large body sleeping body next to her.

_What are you thinking? Just go to sleep!_ She scolded herself as she turned over and grabbed an extra pillow to hug. _This pillow feels nothing like Nathan's arm…_

A few minutes after closing her eyes and seriously trying to go to sleep, she began to hear noises again, like the night before. She tried to ignore them, but after another 15 or 20 minutes, she couldn't take it anymore.

She considered waking up Brooke or Lucas, but deep down, she knew that it wouldn't realty help. Only one person made her feel safe when she was scared like this…

Nathan _had_ said that she could come over whenever she wanted… She quickly got out of bed, grabbed her pillow, and walked across the hall.

She unlocked the front door and walked in, immediately noticing Tim snoring on the couch. She really hoped that she wouldn't wake him up.

Haley quickly and quietly made her way over to Nathan's room and softly knocked on the door.

Nathan had been awake, he had had some trouble falling asleep, and instantly knew who the person on the other side of the door was…again. "Come in, Hales." He whispered as she appeared in the doorway. He patted the bed next to him, and she willingly walked over and plopped down there.

"Sorry." She whispered apologetically. "I thought I heard a noise or something."

"It's ok. I see you brought your own pillow tonight." He joked as she smiled at him.

"Yeah…" She was really tired and already fighting the sleep that threatened to overtake her at any moment.

"Go to sleep." Nathan soothed, as he slipped his arm over her waist and succumbed to sleep himself.

For the second night in a row, they both slept peacefully.


	18. Chapter 18

Hey everyone. Again, thanks for the reviews! They totally brightened my day. And just so you know, the Naley is coming...very soon. lol

_Disclaimer:_ Neither One Tree Hill or James Lafferty belong to me, unfortunately.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 18**

"I can't believe that Whitey is actually making us do this." Nathan muttered as he and Haley wiped down a lounge chair in the pool area.

"I know, this is beyond disgusting." Haley stated as she dipped her sponge into the bucket of soapy water. It had been about a week since she had gotten the news of her uncle's departure from prison, and according to her mother, there was no sign of him anywhere. Her fear had already subsided a lot. The initial shock of the whole thing and the surfacing of some of her worst memories had mainly been the source of her fear anyway.

"And unsanitary," Nathan added as he wiped off the leg of one of the chairs. Whitey had happily given them the task of cleaning the entire pool area after a couple of drunken punks had snuck in the night before and left the place a mess. The worst part was that it looked like almost all of them had gotten sick…

Haley looked up at him and smiled. She had been sleeping in his room ever since the first night that she had fond out about Bobby. It had been hard for her to go over there the first couple of nights, she hated feeling like she was imposing on his privacy, but he had told her over and over again that he really didn't mind. The decision to leave her own condo and go to his because a little easier after a few days when Brooke started sleeping in Lucas's room. Awkward.

"So, what's Peyton up to today?" Haley asked, trying to make some light conversation. For the past couple of nights, Haley had just gone over to his condo at about 9 or 10 because she knew she would end up there anyway, and she had started to become almost friends with Peyton.

"I think she said that she's spending the day with Jake." Nathan said as he made a disgusted face and wiped up a weird looking puddle.

Haley couldn't help but notice the way his strong and muscular arms easily lifted up a chair so that he could clean under it. She loved the way those arms felt when they were wrapped around her at night. They had both gotten use to the fact that Haley always cuddled close to Nathan a night and he always wrapped his arms around her and they didn't really even notice it anymore.

"Well, aren't we doing a mediocre job?" Whitey said sarcastically as he entered through the big gate.

"Hi Whitey." Haley laughed as Nathan smiled. No matter how much he claimed to hate the old man, she could tell that, deep down, he secretly respected him.

"Hello, Haley. Any news on your uncle yet?" Whitey asked caringly.

Nathan felt himself tense up a little; he didn't want her to get upset. "No, not really," Haley replied uneasily.

"Oh, what a shame. I had an aunt once that escaped from a mental institution. They found her a few days later riding a cow on a cattle farm. She thought she was on a spaceship." Whitey shook his head sadly, oblivious to the fact that Nathan and Haley were trying their hardest to hold in laughter. "It's such a shame." He repeated and then turned around to look at the rest of the pool are that had not been cleaned yet. "Nathan, you need to get your ass in gear. This place needs to be cleaned up by 10:00 when the pool opens."

"Ok," Nathan responded sarcastically. It was no secret that Whitey favored Haley over Nathan, probably because he could tell that she had nothing to do with the crime that got them into this mess in the first place.

"Oh, Haley, before I forget, Camilla wanted to see you. Something about baking a cake." Whitey said as he silently dismissed the girl, leaving Nathan to work on his own. "Looks like you have a lot of work to do." He smirked.

"Great." Nathan mumbled. "Did Camilla really want to see her?" He asked, calling Whitey out on his previous statement.

"Nathan Scott! Are you trying to accuse me of lying!"

"Yeah."

"Damn it Nathan. I have never been so disrespected by one person in my entire life!" Whitey said, exasperated.

"So, does that mean you lied?" Nathan said calmly. God he loved to make Whitey mad.

"It was not a lie. Camilla mentioned making a desert today. I want cake, so I sent Haley in to give her a little 'push' in the pastry direction." Whitey defended himself as Nathan let out a small laugh.

"You're a real manipulator, Whitey." Nathan smiled and then went back to work.

"That Haley is a special girl." Whitey mused after a few moments. "I hope you know that."

"I do." Nathan said seriously. For the first time, he said something serious to his 'boss' without being sarcastic or snotty.

"Good. Take care of her." Without another word, Whitey left and went back into his office.

"I will." Nathan said softly under his breath.

* * *

"So, Brooke, I was wondering if you wanted to go to a play with me in a couple of weeks. You know, after the whole Bobby thing is resolved." Lucas said as he walked over to Brooke who was painting her toenails and sitting on the couch. 

"Broody, can we talk?" She said seriously as she closed up the nail polish bottle.

"Yeah, sure babe, what's up?"

"Luke, this past week has been great, almost like heaven for me…I just wanted to, I don't know, make sure we're on the same page, relationship wise." She was obviously feeling a little self conscious.

"Brooke, I don't really know what to say to answer that question, but I'll try…I love you-"

"That's what you keep saying, but I can't help but wonder if you mean it. I mean, it's only been a week since we started going out and you already say you love me like 24/7." Brooke interrupted.

"I don't get it. You tell me you love me too. Are you saying that I don't love you?" He was really confused, she was the one that said 'I love you' first, and they hadn't even been dating then!

"No, it's just that, I've known that I love you for like, years, and I can't help but think that for you, those feelings for me developed in less than a week. I just want to make sure that I'm not, I don't know, forcing you into loving me somehow."

Lucas was taken aback by the vulnerability in her voice. Did she really think that he could lie about his love for her? "Brooke, I may not have realized my feelings for you until a week ago, but that doesn't mean that I've never felt them. In fact, I think I've loved you for most of my life, I just didn't realize it, or didn't want to realize it because I was afraid of ruining our friendship. But things are different now. If you only believe one thing that comes out of my mouth for the rest of your life, believe that I love you."

Brooke had a few tears in her eyes once Lucas finished his impromptu speech. That was all she had wanted to hear, she just wanted to make sure that he felt as strongly for her as she did for him. "I believe you." She responded sweetly as she kissed him firmly on the lips.

* * *

Haley had returned to the pool to find that Nathan was almost finished. "Wow, who knew you could work so fast without me as a distraction." She joked. 

"Funny. How was the cake baking?" He smirked.

"Pretty much like torture. The whole time, Camilla grilled me with questions about us, as if we were a couple or something." Haley smiled and laughed to cover the way she really felt. She had been doing some thinking since Camilla had asked her if Nathan was her boyfriend. Of course, Haley had said no, but at that moment she realized that she could definitely see some sort of future with him.

"Wow, awkward." Nathan laughed too. _Us? _Why did the term 'us' sound so good to him?

"Well, well, well, look who we have here. If it isn't Nathan Scott and Haley James." A familiar voice called from the gate at the entrance to the pool. Both Nathan and Haley looked up to see none other than Chris Keller staring back at them.

Nathan instantly felt a sudden urge to punch something as he was the smirk plastered on the jerk's face while Haley felt a pinch of anger as well. She had tried to forgive and forget, that was what she had done her whole life, she tried not to dwell in the past, but Chris just really made her mad.

"What are you doing here, Chris." Haley called in an icy tone that told him exactly how she felt about him.

"I was just in the neighborhood. I just got back from the big OC. Yeah, I actually saw Angelina and Brad while I was there, I even babysat the 4 youngsters."

"They don't live in the 'OC'." Haley pointed out emotionlessly.

"Guess what I saw on my way here with all my bags?" Chris said, changing the subject.

"What do you mean, 'with all your bags'?" Nathan asked cautiously, he definitely didn't trust this scumbag.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm staying here for the rest of the summer? Well, I am. Now guess what I saw." He commanded.

Haley's eyes got wide and Nathan's mouth fell open a little. "I'm sorry, did you just say that you are staying here for the rest of the summer? As in, the last 6 weeks of summer?" Haley questioned incredulously.

"Yeah, now guess what I saw!"

Was he serious? Was this idiot really staying here for the rest of the summer? Nathan prayed to God that it wasn't true. If there were two people on this earth that could literally annoy him to death, it would be his dad and Chris Keller.

"What did you see?" Haley asked, finally giving in.

"Do you really want to know?" Chris responded coyly as Haley rolled her eyes.

"No." Nathan murmured honestly.

"Ok, I'll tell you. As I was getting off of my private jet in Raleigh, I saw the police bust this guy for trying to steal a taxi. It was hilarious. The guy kept using some lame excuse about having to go see his niece or something. Anyway, I talked to one of the officers and even gave him an autograph, and he told me that the guy broke out of jail! How awesome is that!"

Nathan and Haley were both silent. Could it be true? Was there a chance that Bobby was the one who was arrested? Haley was holding onto this possibility but Nathan wasn't going to hold his breath. He didn't trust a word that came out or Chris's mouth.

Haley quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed her mom's number as Nathan watched her anxiously and Chris looked at her in confusion.

"Mom, have you heard anything about Bobby? Is it true that they caught him?"


	19. Chapter 19

Hey everyone. I just wanted to remind you again to go to and vote for OTH to win SOS. We really need to win!

_Disclaimer:_ Honestly, if I did own One Tree Hill (which I don't) we would not have to wait until **May 2** for it to come back…

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 19**

"Mom, have you heard anything about Bobby? Is it true that they caught him?" Haley said, praying that her mother would give her the answer that she wanted to hear.

"Haley? Is that you? I'm so glad you called. Your father and I were getting worried." Lydia responded happily. "What did you say? Something about boobies?"

"Mom, no." Haley smiled a little internally because her mom was so crazy, in a good way. "I said Bobby."

"What? What about Bobby? Did you see him?" Lydia yelled over the phone. Nathan laughed when he saw Haley hold the phone about 5 inches from her ear because of the loud voice on the other line.

"No, that's why I called you. I was wondering if you heard anything about him." Haley could feel the sliver of hope that she had been holding on to slowly slipping away.

"No, I haven't heard anything. Why?" Lydia said inquisitively. "Should I have heard something?"

"No, I was just wondering…I gotta go. I'll call you later." She hung up the phone and looked to see both Nathan and Chris staring at her. Both of their faces were questioning, but obviously for different reasons. "She hasn't heard anything."

Haley was trying her hardest to mask her disappointment, but it didn't go unnoticed by Nathan. "I'm sure they'll find him soon, Hales." He said soothingly.

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Chris asked with a laugh. He was totally and completely lost at this point.

"That's what I was going to ask you." Nathan spat back. "Why the hell are you staying here for the rest of the summer?"

"My manager thought it would be good for my image. You know, stay in a secluded place for awhile, befriend the locals, the norm." Chris answered simply.

"How can staying here be good for your image? No one in 'show business' or whatever you call it will even know you're here." Haley narrowed her eyes and tried to find the real reason that Chris was staying here.

"Ok, fine. I'm just trying to lay low for awhile."

"Why?" Nathan was not the least bit satisfied with Chris answer.

"I don't know really. I think it might have something to do with me saying that I wanted to kidnap baby Suri Cruise, but I was totally kidding about that! I mean, I thought that Tom could take a joke, but apparently not…" Chris trailed off as his eyes wondered to the bushes surrounding the pool area. "Whoa, what happened to that one?"

Nathan and Haley looked to where Chris was pointing and saw the bush that Nathan had disfigured a few weeks ago. Both started laughing as Chris gave them an annoyed look. He hated being left out of inside jokes, and these two seemed to have a lot of them.

"Get a room." Chris mumbled before walking away.

"That guy is so annoying." Nathan laughed as Haley nodded in agreement. "Just the way he talks makes me want to pound his face in."

"But you're not going to." Haley smiled as she grabbed his hand. "Just as I suspected, taking into account the size of your hand and the average speed that someone your size would punch at, the impact of a hit from you would probably break his nose." She said matter-of-factly.

"Ok, why do you know that?" Nathan joked as she playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"I just do. But you aren't going to pound his face in. You know why?" She responded coyly.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me." He smirked.

"Because you're better than that," Haley said simply and with a smile. "And because Whitey would definitely kill you if you got blood anywhere on his property," she added.

Nathan laughed at what she said, mostly because it was probably true. "You're always looking out for me, aren't you?" He joked.

"If I don't, then who will?" She said playfully as her cell phone started ringing. Why did it always ring while she was talking to Nathan? _It's probably Lucas; he said he was gong to call me about going out for dinner tonight._ "Hello?"

Nathan watched her closely. It had only been about a week since her Uncle Bobby had called her on that same phone. _How can she be so brave?_ He thought. If his crazy uncle broke out of jail and was running loose somewhere, he definitely wouldn't be able to go on with his life the way she was.

"What?" Haley said unbelievingly into the phone. "Are you sure?"

Nathan thought he noticed a hint of excitement in her voice and couldn't help but hope that whoever was on the other line had given her some good news.

"Ok, thank you very much. Bye." She hung up the phone and put it back in her bag before looking up at Nathan who gave her a 'tell me what whoever it was on the phone just said' look. "That was Chief Kline from the Tree Hill Police Department…" She sad evenly, displaying almost no emotion whatsoever.

"Well, what did he say?" Nathan said impatiently, sending out a silent prayer that it was good news.

"They um…they caught Bobby." She broke into a huge smile, her voice conveying her excitement.

"Hales, that's great!" Nathan exclaimed as she ran over to him and jumped up into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist.

"They caught him! They caught him!" She whispered happily over and over again.

Nathan laughed as he held her up and buried his head in her shoulder, taking in the sweet scent of her hair. "That's so great." He said in a low voice that was barely audible.

She pulled her head back and looked straight into his eyes. Those eyes, when they looked at her she felt like they were looking into her soul. For a moment, they stayed like this, faces just inches apart, staring into each other's eyes.

"I should probably go tell Brooke and Lucas." Haley whispered.

"Yeah." He gently set her down on the ground, wishing that he had taken the opportunity to kiss her.

Haley looked at him one more time before turning around and grabbing her bucket of cleaner. Why did she have an overwhelming desire to kiss him?

* * *

"Brooke? Lucas?" Haley called as she entered into her own condo.

"In here, Haley!" Brooke's cheerful voice called from Lucas's bedroom.

_Oh God, they better have clothes on,_ Haley thought as she made her way over to Lucas's room and opened the door. Luckily, both were fully dressed.

"Hey Tutor Girl. What's up?" Brooke said as she went through Lucas's CD collection. "Ew, Broody, you actually listen to this Mozart guy?" She said, holding up a CD with a piano on it.

"No!" He responded defensively. "Only when I'm writing."

"Ok, um, I have some big news guys." Haley interrupted as they both turned to look at her.

"Are you pregnant?!" Brooke yelled. Lucas grimaced and shook his head. He never wanted to think about Haley, who was practically his little sister, pregnant.

"What?! No! Brooke can you be serious for like a second?" Haley's face showed that she really did have something important to say.

"Oh yeah. Never mind, I know you're a virgin." Brooke winked.

"Brooke!"

"Do I really need to be in here for this?" Lucas questioned as he got up off the bed and started walking to the door.

"Yes." Haley responded pleadingly. "Please don't leave me alone with her." She was joking of course, but her tone was still serious.

"Ok, I'll be serious." Brooke promised. "What did you want to tell us?"

"They caught Bobby." She smiled.

"What?!" The other two yelled at the same time and Brooke engulfed her in a hug. "This is like, beyond amazing news!" She squealed. "Oh my God, we have to go out dinner to celebrate! Will you come Lucas? Please?"

"When you say 'will I come' you're really asking 'will I pay' aren't you?" Lucas smirked.

"Well, that's not what I was thinking, but since you offered…" Brooke laughed.

"Great. Fine, let's go." The two girls quickly changed clothes and did their make-up. On the way out, Haley realized that now that now that Bobby was behind bars again, there was no reason for her to sleep at Nathan's…

* * *

It was 10:00 p.m. when Peyton finally returned home from spending the whole day with Jake. It had been a _very_ good day. "Haley's not here?"

"No, um, they caught Bobby." Nathan said as he played NBA live. He had been in sort of a bad mood all evening because Haley wasn't there, he missed her.

"Oh, that's great!" She responded as she set her purse down on the table. "So, I guess you two won't be shacking up together anymore?" She couldn't help the playfull smile that crossed her lips.

"I guess not." He abruptly turned off the game and headed towards him room. "I'm going to bed."

_There is definitely something wrong with him,_ Peyton thought. Nathan Scott doesn't go to bed at 10:00. For as long as she'd known him he didn't really even think about sleep until after 11.

* * *

Dinner had been great, Haley had had a lot of fun just hanging out with her two best friends, but now she was alone, trying to sleep in a cold and empty bed. She had gotten into the habit of falling asleep in Nathan's firm embrace over the past week, and now trying to sleep in this big bed, all alone, just wasn't working.

She quietly got up out of her bed and made her way into the kitchen, hoping that there was ice cream in the freezer.

Nathan couldn't sleep. It was as simple as that. Without Haley sleeping soundly under his arm, he just couldn't fall asleep. After laying in his bed for close to thirty minutes, he finally decided to take action. He got up out of bed, noticing that the time on his alarm clock now said 11:45, and left his room.

He didn't really know what he was going to do or say, but before he knew it, he was standing in front of condo number 9.

He slowly reached up and knocked rather softly on the door. He didn't want to wake anyone up, but he just needed to see her.

The quick opening of the door startled him, he hadn't really expected anyone to answer the door that fast.

"Nathan?" Haley was staring at him while holding a bowl of ice cream.

"Hey, I just um…I need to talk to you." His nerves were showing through and Haley had to wonder what had him so agitated.

"Ok, um, hold on." She reached back and set down her bowl and then walked out into the hallway with him, closing the door behind her. "So you couldn't sleep either?" She joked as he shook his head. "Yeah, I think that I had some trouble falling to sleep because your bed is, like, 15 times softer than mine, and plus the whole difference of surroundings thing totally threw me off-"

Before she could say another word, Nathan leaned down and kissed her…


	20. Chapter 20

Hey guys, here's what you've been waiting for! Finally some real Naley… lol. Enjoy!

_Disclaimer:_ Doesn't everyone know by now that One Tree Hill does not belong to me?

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 20**

"Yeah, I think that I had some trouble falling to sleep because your bed is, like, 15 times softer than mine, and plus the whole difference of surroundings thing totally threw me off-"

Before she could continue, she was interrupted by Nathan leaning down and softly covering her lips with his own.

Her eyes closed as she took in every emotion that she felt at that moment. Her head was spinning in circles of happiness and confusion. Never in her life had something felt so…right.

Nathan pulled his face away from hers, searching her eyes for confirmation that she had felt the same thing he had when their lips met. Granted, it had only been for a second or two, and his lips had done little more than brush past hers, but in that one simple kiss he had felt more than what he had felt with all of the other girls he had ever kissed combined. And he had kissed a lot of girls. What he saw in her light chocolate brown eyes was confusion, but it was happy confusion.

The semi-darkness out in the hallway attempted to hide the radiant smile that graced her face, but Nathan saw it anyway and couldn't help the smile that crossed his own lips. _At least I know she doesn't hate me._

Without thinking, Haley pulled his face down to hers, kissing him firmly and passionately. She felt as though everything she had ever wished for was coming true in this kiss.

Nathan returned the kiss eagerly and expertly, taking her bottom lip softly between his teeth and gently nibbling on it. Before long, his tongue was tracing the outline of her lips begging for entrance.

She willingly obliged, parting her lips and letting his tongue slide in and explore every last inch of her mouth. She loved the way he tasted.

He couldn't seem to get enough of her, the way she tasted, the way she smelled, the way she touched, he never wanted to stop kissing her. During this moment they both knew that this was the start of something new, something good. This was the beginning of _them._

They broke apart quickly when the door opened and Brooke's voice was heard echoing through the hallway. "Tutor Girl, I really need to borrow one of your-" She stopped short when she saw Nathan and Haley both standing before her looking extremely guilty. "Oh, sorry. Um, you two just go back to…I'm going back to bed."

She closed the door leaving a giggling Haley and a smirking Nathan.

"Lucas is going to kill you when he finds out about this." She said playfully as she snuggled her face into his shoulder.

"Why?" Nathan laughed as he wrapped his arms around her waist and planted a small kiss tenderly on her forehead. "I didn't see you pushing me away." He smirked.

"Yeah…" She looked up and kissed him again as a smile formed on his lips. _Nope, this definitely wasn't getting old…_"Come on." She grabbed his hand after they had broken apart again.

"Where are we going?" He laughed lightly.

"Well, I have a confession to make." She said as she stopped at the door and turned around to face him again. "I couldn't sleep tonight without you."

"Oh yeah?" He grinned and lifted their entwined hands to kiss hers.

"Yeah. So, I thought you could sleep in my room tonight." She said innocently.

He loved the way that everything she did, everything she said, was so innocent. She didn't lie to him, her words never held double meanings, and she didn't have some sort of agenda. She was just Haley.

"What about Lucas?" Nathan said seriously. "I don't want the poor kid trying to beat my ass." He joked.

"I think you'll be fine, as long as you're gone by the time he wakes up." She smiled.

"I have a confession to make too." He said simply as her eyes sparkled. "I couldn't sleep without you either."

She grinned and kissed him again, letting herself get lost in the way he made her feel. She wanted to feel this way forever. "Let's go." Haley led him into the condo and then into her bedroom where they both laid down on the bed.

Nathan didn't try anything with her and she was grateful for that. Neither of them wanted to ruin what they had by getting in too deep from the start. Instead, they laid closely together and fell asleep, anxious for what the next day would hold, the first day that they would get to show each other how they really felt.

* * *

Nathan had gotten up rather early the next morning in order to avoid Lucas. When he woke up, he stared at Haley for a few minutes, looking at her beautiful and peaceful face and wondering how someone as special as her could see something in him.

When he got out of the bed, she immediately noticed his absence and woke up as well. "Good morning." She whispered groggily and looked at the clock. 7:14.

"Hey." He smiled and kissed her on the lips softly before putting on his other shoe.

"Do you really have to leave already?" She pouted and pulled him down on top of her by the neck of his t-shirt.

"Trust me, I don't want to." He sighed. If he had his way, he would spend all day every day with her. "But Lucas would probably send his piranha after me if he found me in here with you."

Haley chuckled. "If you stay and Lucas finds you, I'll tell him to go easy on you." She proposed.

"Oh please, I wouldn't need him to go easy on me." He replied smugly as he kissed her on the nose, and then lowered the kiss to her mouth, slowly massaging her lips. This day, this moment, this _them,_ was so perfect, neither could imagine one place in the world that they would rather be.

"I really should get going." He pulled away from her and affectionately tucked a stray strand of her golden blonde hair behind her ear. "But I'll see you later."

"Promise?" She stuck out her bottom lip, faking a pout.

"Yeah, I promise." He laughed, giving into the urge to kiss away the pout that she had put on her face. After hearing movement coming from the other room, they unwillingly separated and Nathan quietly left the condo.

* * *

"Tutor Girl, you better tell me what was going on with you and the other Scott brother last night." Brooke grinned as she and Haley sat on the couch watching TV. Lucas had gone out to get doughnuts, so it was just the girls at home. 

"I don't know what you're talking about." Haley played dumb, unsuccessfully. Brooke knew Haley was lying through her teeth when she saw a giant smile spread across her face.

"Haley! Yes you do! Spill!"

"Ok, we kissed." Haley responded, doing a terrible job at hiding her excitement.

"What! Oh my God! I knew it! So then what happened?" Brooke was bouncing up and down on the couch; she lived for this kind of stuff.

"Nothing, he was really sweet, we just went to bed." She said coyly, knowing that Brooke would catch on to the fact that she and Nathan had been in the room right next to her and Lucas all night.

"You slept together!"

"No, we didn't 'sleep together' sleep together, we just slept together. Are we really having this conversation again?" Normally, Haley would probably be a bit annoyed at this point, but today she was in too good of a mood.

Without thinking, she stared off into space and started to think about the night before…and she started to get a little impatient to see Nathan again today. It was like being away from him for a couple of hours was too long. She had never felt like that about anyone before, and it kind-of intimidated her.

"What was it like?" Brooke asked genuinely.

"What was what like?" Haley asked, coming back to reality at the sound of Brooke's voice.

"The kiss. You know, what was it like to kiss Nathan for the first time?" Brooke replied as if that should have been obvious in the first place.

"Honestly? I don't think I can even describe it." Brooke noticed the way that Haley's eyes lit up at the thought of Nathan. This girl was falling fast.

"Oh, come on, at least try." Brooke encouraged.

"Ok, well, it was almost like the whole world kind-of faded, you know? Like I couldn't think of anything else but him. It felt so…perfect." Haley stared off into space dreamily as Brooke did the same.

"That sounds pretty much like how I feel when I kiss Lucas."

"Ew, Brooke, again, Lucas is my best friend, practically my big brother. Can we please not go there?" Haley laughed as her friend threw a pillow at her. "Speaking of Lucas, did you tell him? About last night?"

"Heck no! I'm leaving that can of worms for you to open." Brooke smirked as Lucas walked back into the condo right on cue. _Great,_ Haley thought.

* * *

"Where were you last night, Nate?" Tim asked as he stuffed a giant handful of cheese puffs into his mouth. 

"Nowhere." Nathan responded. He really didn't want to tell Tim about Haley until he talked to her first, he wanted to make sure that she got a chance to tell Lucas about them before he told Tim.

"Cool." Tim said monotonously. "Hey man, I met this guy who owns a marina, and he said that he would let us rent a boat for half price anytime we want." He said randomly.

"Cool." Nathan said, mimicking Tim's earlier tone.

"I was thinking we could get one of those yachts or something and have, like, a huge party!" Tim was obviously proud of himself for thinking up this brilliant idea.

"Yeah, um, ok. You pick a day and do all the planning, and I'll show up." Nathan said as he walked towards the door. He really needed to see Haley, he had been going crazy these last few hours without her.

"Ok!" Tim replied eagerly. "Wait…" Before Tim could object, Nathan was out the door.

He walked over to the door of condo number 9 and just as he was getting ready to knock, it swung open on its own.

"Nathan, I was just on my way over to see you." Haley smiled as she stepped outside and closed the door behind her. "Before you say anything, I didn't tell Lucas about us yet. He got home and then started ranting about how inadequate doughnut makers were or something…anyway, he was totally pissed because he found a short blonde hair on the outside of the box, Brooke and I tried to tell him that it was probably his, but he was just in a bad mood so I figured it might be best if we waited until-"

Before she could finish, Nathan leaned down to her and hungrily kissed her on the lips. She was incredibly adorable when she rambled.

"Nathan, you have to actually say something at some point." She laughed in between kisses.

"Ok, come with me." He stated, never really letting his lips part from hers.

"What? Where?" She smiled as she pulled away from him to look into his eyes. She did love surprises.

"Have you eaten breakfast?" He asked suddenly.

"Well, no, Lucas threw the whole box of doughnuts away after the hair incident. Why?" She asked suspiciously.

"Come on, we're going out to breakfast." He smiled.

"What?" Her smiled was luminous as Nathan watched her eyes sparkle from excitement.

"You heard me." He said playfully, still staring into her eyes. "Let's go." He leaned down and whispered in her ear.

"You know what, Nathan Scott? You can be quite persuasive." She smirked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I know." He grinned.

"Let me just grab my purse." She gave him a quick peck on the lips before running inside to grab her purse. A few minutes later, they were on their way to their way to their first actual date.


	21. Chapter 21

Hey guys. This chapter is a little bit longer…because, well, because I just love you all so much! So here it is…Chapter 21.

_Disclaimer:_ Do I own One Tree Hill or any of its characters? No. Do I wish I did? Yes.

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 21**

"So, the choices are Waffle House or IHOP." Nathan laughed. They had been driving around for close to 20 minutes and those two were the only restaurants they could find, besides McDonalds, that served breakfast.

"IHOP." They both said at the same time and laughed. Nathan pulled in to the parking lot and a few minutes later they were sitting across from each other looking at the menu.

"Can I take your order?" A skinny and slightly nerdy guy asked as he approached the table.

"Um. Yeah, I'll have the pancakes with bacon, please. Oh, and a side of fruit," Haley added politely.

"I'll have the same thing." Nathan smirked. "But no fruit."

"Ok, I'll be back with your orders shortly." The waiter said and then walked away.

"Fruit?" Nathan questioned with a laugh. "You actually eat fruit at breakfast?"

"Yeah, I like to make healthy choices." Haley defended herself with a smile. "Darn it, I forgot to ask for extra syrup."

Nathan laughed. "Yeah, because syrup is really healthy." He joked.

"At least I'm making an effort, unlike _somebody_." She said good-naturedly as she grabbed a pen from her purse and started writing on a napkin.

"Hey, I like my junk food." He smiled. "What are you doing?"

"It's called a true love test; my sister Taylor taught me how to do it." She said as she counted a few letters and wrote some tally marks. "Hmm, this is interesting."

"What?" He asked with a grin, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well, it seems that you, Nathan Scott, love me 134 percent." She laughed.

"134 percent, huh? Out of what?"

"I don't know. I just give you the test. I don't know how to interpret the results." She laughed as he grabbed the napkin and pen and started writing something on the back.

"Let's play tic-tac-toe." He said as he handed the napkin back to her. "You can go first."

"What a gentleman." She took the pen and napkin from him and marked an 'O' in the top right-hand corner. "But I have to warn you, I always win at this game."

"Bring it on." He laughed as he marked a sloppy 'X' in the center box.

After they each took a few more turns, it was Haley's turn and there was only one spot left. It was apparent that no one was going to win. She put her 'O' in the grid. "Ha, I win." She smiled.

"What? How is that?" Nathan looked down at the napkin again to make sure he hadn't missed something.

"I have 5 'Os', you only have 4 'Xs'." She pointed out.

"So?" He laughed. "That doesn't mean you won."

"Yes it does. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by whoever has more of their marks, or whatever, in the tic-tac-toe thingy." She smiled at him sweetly as she unrolled her silverware from its napkin.

"I've never heard that before." He smiled.

"Well it's true." Just then, the waiter came back with their food. "That was quick." She said as she watched the plate of pancakes be set down in front of her.

Nathan gave her a mischievous smirk and then turned to the waiter who had just set his plate down and was turning around to leave. "Excuse me…um…Marvin." Nathan read off of his name tag. Haley looked at him with wide eyes, fighting the laugh that threatened to escape. What was he doing?

"You can call me Mouth." The waiter smiled brightly, obviously happy that someone was talking to him for a change instead of ordering him around.

"Ok…um…Mouth, I have a question for you." Nathan said, the smirk never leaving his face as he looked over at Haley again who was staring at him intently. "If there is a tie in the game of tic-tac-toe, how can you tell who wins?"

Haley looked up at Mouth, hopeful that he would back up her claim. "Well, I think that the way the game works is that whoever has more 'Xs' or 'Os' wins." Mouth replied honestly.

"Yes! I knew it." Haley cheered from her seat.

"Are you kidding me? That is so cheap." Nathan mumbled, the smile never leaving his face. "Thanks Mouth." Mouth walked away and Nathan looked back over at Haley who was giving him a very smug smile.

"Say it." She laughed.

"I will not." He joked.

"You have to Nathan, come on, tell me that I was right and how great I am." She prodded.

"Fine. You were right, you won the game, and you are the best tic-tac-toe player ever." He said sarcastically. "Does that make you happy?"

"Yes it does." She smiled in her triumph before stuffing a bite of pancakes into her mouth. "So why do you think that the waiter's name is Mouth?" She giggled.

"Who knows." Nathan said as he took a drink. "But I'm guessing it's not because he kisses a lot of girls, if you know what I mean."

"Nathan! Stop being mean!" She laughed. It was true, this Mouth guy really didn't strike her as the type to get the nickname from making out with lots of people.

"What? Hales it's the truth." He said playfully.

"Yeah, well… shoot. I forgot to ask for extra syrup again." She laughed.

"I'll get you some." Nathan said, that mischievous grin showing through again.

"No Nathan, whatever you're about to do, don't." She said sternly, but he didn't listen. Before she knew it, he had beckoned Mouth to their table again.

"Is there something you need?" Mouth said, slightly agitated.

"Yeah, she needs more syrup." Nathan said as he motioned towards Haley who was shaking her head slightly and chuckling.

"I'm sorry, we don't give out syrup refills." Mouth replied shortly before turning to leave again.

"Um, Mouth." Nathan called again.

"Nathan please just let it go; I don't need syrup that bad." She said quickly and with a giggle as Mouth walked back up to the table.

"Yes?" Mouth said impatiently.

"I'm very disappointed that you couldn't find it in your heart to give this poor girl a little more syrup." Nathan said seriously.

"Look sir, it's IHOP policy-"

"I'm sure it is, but my girlfriend has diabetes," He responded with a small smile hidden behind his serious face. _Did he just say girlfriend?_ Haley thought as she felt small butterflies flying around in her stomach. "She needs the syrup for her…um…her-" It was obvious that Nathan knew close to nothing about Diabetes or why Haley would need syrup if she had it, he just knew that a girl at school had it and she always got to drink orange juice during class...

"Blood sugar level." Haley finished for him, deciding to take part in his charade, just for kicks.

"Exactly." Nathan said evenly. "If it's IHOP policy that she be deprived of it, then fine. But I'm warning you, I'm going to be one very pissed boyfriend if she passes out."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Mouth apologized. "I'll be right back with your syrup."

"He obviously knows just about as much about diabetes as you do." Haley joked after Mouth had left.

"Why? Because he actually believed it?" Nathan asked, joining in on her laughter.

"Well yeah." She smiled at him before bursting out into laughter again. "I can't believe that you just did that."

"You're welcome." He said playfully.

"Here's your syrup." Mouth said, setting the dispenser of syrup on the table with a loud thud.

"Thanks." Haley said sweetly.

* * *

The two of them had finished eating, Nathan had paid the bill and tipped Mouth generously for putting up with them, and now it was early afternoon as they arrived back at the condos. 

"Wait here." He said coyly after they got out of the car.

"Why?" She asked cautiously.

"Just wait here." He smirked and disappeared around the corner of the building into the courtyard. A few seconds later, he returned while hiding something behind his back.

"What is that?" She asked playfully as she tried to look behind his back.

"Here, they're for you." He pulled his arms out from behind his back and presented her with a small bouquet of about 5 little purple flowers. She immediately recognized them as she ones she had planted a few weeks ago.

"Oh, they're beautiful!" She exclaimed as she took them into her hands and smelled them. "Thank you." She smiled at him as he leant down to kiss her softly on the lips. "You are just too sweet." She sighed as he pulled away.

"So I've been told." He smiled jokingly.

She took his hand and led him into the courtyard; she wanted to see where exactly he had picked these from so she would know where to plant new ones before Whitey saw. Unfortunately, they were not the only ones in the courtyard.

Chris Keller was also there, apparently playing baseball…with himself. Nathan and Haley both just watched him in amusement as he threw the ball into the air and tried, unsuccessfully, to hit it with a bat.

"What are you doing?" Nathan asked, finally deciding that he had seen enough of this pathetic scene.

"Oh, just practicing my ball skills. I got asked to join the Asheville Tourists minor league team." He bragged. Haley rolled her eyes. Yeah, and she was Oprah's new personal assistant.

"Whatever you say, Chris." Nathan said as he led Haley past him and Chris threw the ball in the air. Just as Nathan passed in front of Chris, he was stopped by a baseball bat hitting him right in the face.

"Oh my God!" Haley yelled when Nathan fell to the ground holding his eye. "Are you ok?" She bent down next to him and removed his hand so she could look at his quickly bruising face.

"What the hell. Chris what's your problem?" Nathan said angrily as he tried to keep Haley from touching his eye that was sure to be black tomorrow.

"My bad, man. The sun blocked my sight. I thought your head was the ball." He justified.

"How can you think someone's head is a baseball?" Haley asked incredulously. "Nathan, stop, let me see it." She said when he kept covering his eye with his hand.

"See you guys later." Chris called good-naturedly and then picked up the baseball and went inside.

"God, I hate that guy." Nathan muttered.

"I can't believe he just hit you in the face with a bat!" Haley said astonished as she stood up and reached out her hand to him.

"I told you he's an ass." Nathan said as he took Haley's hand and stood up as well.

"We need to get some ice on that." She said calmly as she got a good look at his eye for the first time.

"We don't have any. Tim used it all last night. He said he was going to dump it in some guy's pool or something." Nathan said. "Ow, don't touch it!" He whined when she reached her hand up to his face again.

"Ok, fine, we can get some from mine." The only problem was that Lucas was home and would definitely have some questions about this…


	22. Chapter 22

Hello again. I love you guys, you are all amazing. Thanks again for all of the reviews! Enjoy chapter 22! And don't forget that tomorrow is the last day that we can vote for SOS... we really need to win!

_Disclaimer:_ yeah, yeah, yeah…I don't own One Tree Hill.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 22**

"Don't worry about it; I'm sure he won't freak out as much as we both think he will." Haley said nervously, more to calm her own nerves than Nathan's. Now that she thought about it, Nathan really didn't seem too worried about the fact that Lucas would probably know all about them in a matter of minutes. "If God has any compassion on me at all, Lucas won't even be home."

She inserted her key into the lock and slowly opened the door. Apparently God got some kind of kick out of torturing her, Lucas and Brooke were sitting at the kitchen table talking and sharing a plate of Bagel Bites.

_Maybe if I don't look at them, they won't notice us…_ Haley thought hopefully as she pulled Nathan through the door.

"Hey Tutor Girl." Brooke yelled in greeting when she saw her friend come in. She quickly shut her mouth when she saw Haley shake her head and then noticed Nathan behind her as the two entered the kitchen. Oh, this was going to be interesting.

"Hey Hales." Lucas called with a full mouth and Brooke used that as an excuse to scold him to create a slight distraction.

Haley opened the freezer and grabbed a few pieces of ice at a time and dropped them into a Ziploc bag.

"What are you doing?" Lucas asked as he heard the sound of ice dropping into something.

"Nothing, just, uh, getting some ice." She said truthfully. Ok, maybe it wasn't the whole truth, but it wasn't a lie either. Nathan just looked at her and had to fight to keep a small laugh from escaping. She really was dreading telling Lucas about them. Did she really think that he was going to freak out that much?

After filling the bag with ice and wrapping it in a paper towel, she breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe they would make it out without a dramatic confrontation.

"Haley, do you need some help with-" Lucas entered the kitchen and stopped short when he saw Nathan Scott standing with her. "Oh, um, hi Nathan." Lucas was a little agitated that Nathan was in his condo, but was also confused as hell as to why he was in here with Haley. Sure, he knew they were kind-of like friends, but he had never gotten the impression that they were close enough for her to invite him over…

"Hey." Nathan responded casually as he looked around uncomfortably. It was obvious that Lucas had no idea that he and Haley were even friends and he apparently didn't know that they had been sleeping in the same bed since the whole Bobby thing either.

"So, what are you doing here?" Lucas asked bluntly.

"He needed some ice." Haley answered for him. "Chris hit him in the face with a baseball bat."

"That sucks." Lucas said out of fake sympathy. "Well, you have it now, so bye."

"Luke! Stop being so rude!" Haley scolded. She knew he would be like this…

"What do you want me to do, Haley? You bring_ him_ in here and expect me to be nice?" Lucas spat out. She knew that if there was one person in the world that he couldn't stand, it was Nathan, but she still brought him over here? And expected him to be nice? He thought she knew him better than that.

Nathan watched the exchange and kept his mouth shut, he figured it would do more harm than good to say something now. God, Lucas was so annoying!

"I expected you to be civil." She replied, a little hurt at his attitude.

"Why are you defending him?" Lucas asked suddenly.

"I-"

"What Brooke's been saying for weeks, is true, isn't it?" He responded angrily. The worst part about this whole thing was that Haley hadn't even told him that she even liked Nathan as a friend; he had just assumed that part. "You like him."

"Yes…" She trailed off.

The fact that she had just admitted that in front of Nathan made him think that she had already told him about those feelings…which meant…Oh God, Haley's 'date' this morning was with Nathan?

Before he could question her about it, the phone in the condo rang and Haley jumped to pick it up, grateful for the interruption. "Hey, mom," she said.

Nathan watched her closely, why would Lydia be calling?

"Oh, um, ok. Yeah, I'll be there." She hung up the phone and Nathan noticed that her face looked a little flushed.

"What did she say?" Nathan asked her.

"Hey, this isn't your condo. You don't have the right to ask her that." Lucas said bitterly as Nathan struggled to keep from rolling his eyes. "What did she say, Hales?" Lucas asked her, making sure to throw her nickname in there to illustrate that they were friends, unlike her and Nathan.

"Bobby's trial is next weekend and they want me to testify that he contacted me." She said weakly. Did she have to?

"That's cool, now let's get back to this whole Nathan problem." Lucas said indignantly. He didn't mean to ignore the fact that she was scared about having to testify against her abusive uncle, normally he would have picked up on it and would have comforted her about it, but right now he couldn't think clearly because his sworn enemy was standing in front of him.

Sure, Nathan had done some nice things in the past, like bringing Haley home after the party and keeping her company while he and Brooke were gone that one night, but the bad things he had done far outweighed the good things. Was Haley forgetting about the time that Nathan made fun of her poncho?

"Lucas, there is no 'Nathan problem'." Haley said with a sigh.

"Apparently there is, were you out with him this morning?"

"Yes." She answered shortly.

"Haley! You do know who he is, right? What he's done?" Lucas was fuming, he felt betrayed by his best friend.

"I'm actually standing right here, so…" Nathan said, slightly irked that Lucas was saying this, in front of him no less.

"You think I don't know what you're up to? Because I do." Lucas almost yelled.

"Ok, well, do you want to tell me what that is? Because I sure as hell don't know what you're talking about." Haley could see Nathan's anger rising and it was obvious that Lucas was already exploding. They really weren't fighting over her or who she did or did not spend her time with; the origin of this fight went back years before this, to Dan.

"You're an ass." Lucas accused.

"Stop!" Haley yelled, finally deciding to intervene. "Both of you!" She stepped in between them and turned to Lucas. "If all you're going to do is insult him, and me, then maybe we should go."

"Haley! He's the horrible! How can you set yourself up to get hurt like this?"

Haley just shook her head, she had expected him to be mad, but she had also expected him to at least listen to her. She never would have guessed that his hatred of his brother was so immense. "Lucas, we'll talk later, once you've calmed down a little."

With that, she grabbed the bag of ice which she had set on the counter when she answered the phone, and left the condo with Nathan. Lucas watched her go, shaking his head and wondering what she could possible see in that guy.

* * *

"I'm sorry about that." Haley apologized sincerely once they were safely inside of Nathan's condo. "He just gets a little protective." 

"Yeah, I could tell." Nathan held in his smirk because every time he moved his face it sent a shooting pain to his eye. _Stupid Chris_. He sat down on the couch and turned on the TV.

"Hold still." She commanded as she sat down on his lap and looked at his face.

"Gladly," he joked as he hooked his arms around the back of her waist.

"Nathan, be serious!" She laughed. "I have to look at it."

"Fine," He grumbled as he turned the TV to a basketball game. "Ouch," he flinched a little at her touch, but quickly relaxed.

"Nathan, I said hold still!" Haley scolded him as he put his hands on her hips and gently scooted her over a little bit so he could see the TV.

"Hales, it's the last 30 seconds and it's tied." Nathan justified. "Can't you inflict pain on me in 30 seconds?" He joked.

"I guess," She responded coyly. "Or, I could do this…" She slowly leaned down and left a soft kiss on his lips.

He responded immediately by pulling her closer and kissing her again, ignoring the pain in his face. They stayed like this for a few minutes until the buzzer sounded on the TV and Haley giggled as she pulled herself away from him. "The game's over, now you can be still."

"You, Haley James, are nothing but a big tease." He joked as he closed his bad eye so she could look at it.

"Yeah, you're definitely going to have a black eye tomorrow." She said sympathetically as she grabbed the icepack and brought it up to his face.

"Wait." He said, grabbing her hand just before the bag of ice made contact with his eye. "It's going to hurt."

"Aw, you poor baby," Haley laughed. "Do you want me to kiss it? Will that make it better?"

"Yeah, actually I think that would make it a little better." He smirked.

At his request, she bent over and gently touched her lips to his closed eye. "Now keep this on there." She commanded as she put the ice right over the same place that she had kissed, causing Nathan's skin to go from hot to cold in a matter of seconds. He couldn't help but think of how much more he light the 'hot'.

"So, what was it that your mom said about Bobby's trial and you having to be there?" Nathan asked softly. He had wanted to ask that question since she had hung up the phone.

She laid her head on his chest just below his chin before speaking. Having to testify against Bobby and having to just see him again scared her. The only time she ever felt really safe was when she was close to Nathan, and she wanted to feel safe right now. "Bobby's hearing is next weekend. They want me to testify against him that he made contact with me."

"Do you want to?" He placed his free hand on her back and slowly started drawing circles on it with his index finger.

"I don't know…I mean, no…not really." She was having trouble thinking with Nathan's hand on her back… "I'm just a little scared to see him again, that's all."

Nathan understood why she was afraid to see him, the last time she saw him he beat her. "Where's the trial at?"

"Um, it's in Charlotte." She replied as her eyes started to close a little. Nathan's hand slowly moving up and down her back was putting her to sleep.

"Well, if it will make you feel better, I'll go with you." He suggested.

Her eyes opened and a smile spread across her face. "Really? You will?"

"Of course I will." He gave her a soft peck on the forehead, "if you want me to."

"Yeah, I would like that." She said as she laid her head back down on his chest, letting the calm feelings wash over her.


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: We have until 11:59 (Pacific Time) to go and vote for OTH to win SOS. Everyone go vote :)**

Hey guys, thanks so much for the reviews! They make me really happy. This weekend is Easter and we are going out of town...so hopefully I'll be able to update on Sunday evening, but if not, then Monday for sure. Enjoy the chapter!

_Disclaimer:_ The story belongs to me, but One Tree Hill and its characters do not.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 23**

"Yo, Nate, I talked to that marina guy and he said that if we want a yacht we need to-"

"Shhhh!" Nathan warned before Tim could finish and then motioned to the girl sleeping on his lap.

"Oh, my bad," Tim said as he walked over to the fridge and pulled out a beer. "Um, if you don't mind me asking, why is the hot neighbor girl sleeping on you?"

"She fell asleep." Nathan said simply as he flipped through the channels if the TV with the remote.

"Ok, that still doesn't answer why she's on your lap." Tim said confused. Had he missed something?

"Why? Is there something wrong with a guy's girlfriend sleeping on his lap?" Nathan grinned.

"What? You are going out with her? Since when?" Tim said in a loud voice causing Haley to stir a little. "Does this mean that I can't have fantasies about her anymore?" He asked honestly before Nathan could answer the first question.

"Tim!" Nathan said in a disgusted voice. "She's my girlfriend, and I'd really appreciate it if you kept your perverted daydreams to yourself."

"Ok." Tim shrugged. "Anyway, the guy who owns the marina, Felix, he said that if we want a yacht we need to reserve it soon."

"I thought I put you in charge of that." Nathan said as he settled on a baseball game to watch.

"Yeah, I know, but I just wanted to run it by you." Tim answered as he set his drink down on the coffee table.

"Sounds fine to me," Nathan really didn't know what he had agreed to; the steady breathing of the beautiful girl on top of him had provided a simple distraction. He heard something about a yacht…and someone named Felix…

"Sweet. I'll call Felix later and get the most expensive one."

"Wait, Tim, how are you planning on paying for that?" Nathan looked at him, _Please tell me he didn't do anything stupid…_

"I found some random person's wallet on the street and it had, like, 5,000 dollars in it!" Tim said excitedly. Obviously it had been killing him to hold in that little secret in.

"What? Tim! You can't keep that money. Did the wallet have some kind of identification in it?" Nathan said incredulously as Haley stirred again.

"Yeah, it did. But I put it back." Tim said as if that should have been obvious from the beginning.

Nathan was very confused at this point; didn't Tim just say that he was going to use that money to pay for the yacht?

"I took the money out, _then_ I put the wallet back." Tim clarified.

Nathan just shook his head. Wow.

"Where's Peyton?" Tim asked casually as he looked around. Haley stirred for the third time and Nathan shot Tim a warning glance as if to tell him to be quiet.

"Uh, I think she's with Jake." Nathan responded as he stroked Haley's hair to sooth her back to sleep.

"Again? Jeez, why doesn't she just move in with the guy? It's not like she's ever here anyway." Tim mumbled. "Whoa! What happened to your face?" He whisper-yelled when he finally saw Nathan's eye that was quickly turning black and blue.

"Chris Keller hit me in the head with a baseball bat." Nathan grumbled.

"Oh, that sucks."

* * *

"Lucas?" Haley called as she reentered her own condo a few hours later. Apparently, she had fallen asleep at Nathan's and had woken up only about an hour ago. At that time, it had only been about 3:00 and she thought that Lucas would probably need more time to cool down before she tried to talk to him, so she, Nathan, and Tim had played NBA Live. Nathan won, even when it was him vs. both her and Tim. 

"In here." He responded flatly from his bedroom.

"Hey, um, what's up?" She said, trying to make light conversation.

Lucas just ignored her and stared at the pages of the book he was pretending to read.

"Where's Brooke?" She was really hoping to talk to Brooke about what to say to Lucas to make him understand, to make him realize that Nathan is not a bad guy.

"Gone," He said simply without even looking up at her.

"Lucas, can you please stop pretending to read that book now and talk to me?" She pleaded. The last thing she wanted to do was fight with her best friend.

"What makes you think I'm faking it?" He asked, looking up at her for the first time.

"The book's upside down." She pointed out with a smile.

"Oh." He hadn't even realized that the book was upside down until now.

"Lucas, can you at least let me explain about Nathan?"

"I think you already made yourself clear." He stated coldly.

"I really don't understand why you are so upset." Haley felt like screaming at him, but she held her tongue. Why couldn't he bury his issues with his relationship with Dan and focus on her relationship with Nathan?

"Why? I don't know Haley, why would I be upset that my best friend is going out with a jackass?"

"That's really not fair. You don't even know him." Haley pointed out.

"No, I guess I don't. But I know of him, and I know Dan. You know what they say, the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." He muttered.

"You do realize that you just accused yourself of being like Dan just as much as Nathan is, don't you?"

"No I didn't." Lucas defended himself.

"Yes, you did." She laughed.

"Well, that's not what I meant." He huffed. "I just want to know what you actually like about the guy."

"Ok…" This was going to be awkward, telling Lucas everything that she liked about his brother. "I like that he makes me feel safe, and that he makes me feel important, I like that he makes me laugh-"

"Ok, I get it." Lucas interrupted. As she listed those things, he realized that that's what he loved about Brooke as well, he felt calm and peaceful with her, he felt like someone needed him, and she definitely had ways to make him laugh.

Haley looked at him hopefully; maybe he would come around in time.

"I don't like him. At all. But, I'm willing to give him a chance if it means so much to you." Lucas couldn't believe that he had just said that. Did he really just agree to give Nathan Scott a 'chance'?

"Really? Oh my gosh, thank you so much Luke! You are the best friend ever!" She squealed as she jumped onto the bed and gave him a big hug. _Maybe, in time, they'll even be friends._

* * *

"Yeah, he was totally calm when I went back over there." Haley said as she and Nathan walked through the courtyard together that evening. 

"That's good." Nathan smiled. "For a minute there I thought he was going to shoot me or something."

"Nah, maybe he would have stabbed you a couple times, but I don't think he would have brought a gun into it." She joked. "Which reminds me, maybe it would be a good idea if we slept in our own beds tonight."

"Easy for you to say, you had a nice long nap." He said playfully as she hit him on the shoulder. "You're probably right, we wouldn't want Lucas to have a heart attack or anything."

"I'll miss you though." She assured him.

"You'll be lucky if I can keep my eyes open tomorrow because I already know I'm not going to get much sleep." He teased.

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be ably to stay awake." She stood on her tip-toes and gave him a sensuous kiss.

"Yeah, I probably will." He laughed as he kissed her back.

"Brian, come look at this!" A short grey-haired woman called as she looked out of a big window in the office where she was working.

"What is it Camilla?" Whitey asked sweetly as he came into her office from his.

"Look." She pointed out the window to where Nathan and Haley were standing in the courtyard.

"Camilla, I really don't like to watch teenagers make out like you do." He joked as he started walking back to his own office.

"Brian, aren't those your janitor kids?" She asked sweetly, already knowing she was right.

Whitey did a double take and moved over next to Camilla to peer out the window. After squinting his eyes multiple times, he came to the conclusion that it was Nathan and Haley who were outside.

"Aw, look how sweet they are." Camilla gushed when they pulled away from each other and put their foreheads together, laughing. "I knew that they would be an adorable couple."

"How is that?" Whitey asked as he looked back at his wife whose eyes were glowing in a mischievous way.

"When you sent Haley in here to help me bake that cake, I couldn't help but ask if she was seeing Nathan." She giggled as Whitey gave her a 'what's the point?' look. "Anyway, she said no, but I could tell that somewhere deep down she wished she could say yes. Now apparently she can." Camilla broke into a big smile, there was nothing more romantic than young love.

"Touching." Whitey said sarcastically. "This little fling better not interfere with their work." He added as he walked out of the room, a small smile creeping across his face. He remembered when he met and fell in love with Camilla, they had been staying in the same apartment building all summer. Yes, there was nothing more romantic than young love.


	24. Chapter 24

Hey guys, I hope you all enjoyed your Easter! Thank you for all of the amazing reviews! By the way, if any of the legal terms in this chapter are a little off, then sorry, I don't know if any of them are really right. Sorry. :-)

_Disclaimer:_ Nope, I still don't own One Tree Hill or any of its characters…

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 24**

"Are you sure you don't want us to come?" Brooke asked as she stood under the roof of the entryway of the condos. Today was the day of Bobby's trial and Nathan and Haley were preparing for their road trip to Charlotte.

"Yes, Brooke, we'll be fine." Haley laughed at her friend's concern. "We'll be back later tonight." The rain was pouring down steadily and Nathan was grateful that just earlier this week he had driven up to Tree Hill to exchange his convertible for an SUV.

"Call us if you need anything." Lucas replied as he hugged her. Over the course of the last week, he had grown to accept the fact that his best friend was dating his brother, he didn't like it, but he accepted it.

"You ready to go, Hales?" Nathan called as he came back from the car and took shelter beneath the roof. Lucas narrowed his eyes at Nathan as if to warn him against whatever he was going to try with her.

"Yeah, bye guys!" With that, she took off running towards the car with Nathan close behind her. She hopped into the passenger's seat as Nathan got into the driver's seat and started the engine. "Remind me again why you traded the convertible for the SUV?" She laughed.

"I never really wanted the convertible, my Dad kind-of forced it on me." Nathan said truthfully. "I figured since we were going for a road trip this weekend there had never been a better time to get the car I actually wanted." He turned on the windshield wipers before speaking again. "Now I'm glad I did."

"Yeah, me too." She laughed nervously.

"Hey, I know you're scared about going up to Charlotte," Nathan said softly. "But you don't have to be. I'll be right next to you the whole time…Well, except when you're actually on the stand."

"Thanks." She smiled. "I'm really happy that you decided to come with me."

"There's nowhere else I'd want to be." He said honestly.

After a few hours of driving, endless road games, and a couple of lighthearted arguments over music, they finally reached the courthouse in Charlotte that was their destination.

"You ready?" Nathan asked, just before they were about to enter through the big doors.

"As I'll ever be." With that, he took her hand and led her through the door.

"Haley Bub!" Lydia called excitedly as soon as her youngest daughter entered into the building. She rushed up to give Haley a hug as Jimmy did the same.

"Hi mom, hi Dad." Haley smiled as she greeted them.

"You know, it is disappointing that we had to go to court just to hear from you." Jimmy joked.

"Mom, dad, this is Nathan." Haley said as she introduced them to the tall dark haired guy next to her.

"Hello." Nathan said as he shook hands with Jimmy and then Lydia.

"Nathan? As in the boy you told me about on the phone a few weeks ago?" Lydia questioned suspiciously as she turned her attention back to Haley. "Please tell me that you told him how you felt?"

Nathan laughed a little as Haley smiled. "Mom! If I hadn't, you would probably have just embarrassed me to death."

"Sorry, I'm just so thrilled that my baby found someone that she is serious about." Lydia beamed.

"Come on, Lydia. Let's stop embarrassing her…for now." Jimmy laughed.

"Excuse me, are you Haley James?" A tall red-haired man said as he came up behind Haley.

"Um, yeah." She replied uneasily. "Do I know you?"

"No, I'm the prosecuting lawyer today and I just wanted to brief you on the procedure for your testimony." He said warmly.

"Ok." She answered warily. She didn't even want to give a testimony.

"Do you mind coming back her with me so we can discuss the questions that you will most likely be asked in private?" His smile seemed rather fake and Haley figured that he probably wanted to be here about as much as she did.

"Well, I um…" It was obvious that she was a bit apprehensive to go with him so Nathan gave her hand a quick squeeze to let her know that he would be right there waiting for her when she was finished. "Yeah, that's fine." She flashed a grateful grin at Nathan as she was led down a small corridor and into a tastefully decorated office.

"So, Nathan was it? When did you and my daughter become friends?" Jimmy said with a small trace of a smile etching across his face. He knew about the whole spray paint thing, Haley had told Lydia, who had told him, but he enjoyed watching young people squirm so he couldn't resist asking the question.

"Um…" Nathan had not been expecting that question. What was he supposed to say? I tried to get her and her friends kicked out, got caught, and had to clean the condo complex as a punishment with her? No, bad idea. "We work together." He said vaguely, hoping that Haley's parents didn't know the whole story behind that one.

His face clouded with confusion when they both started laughing out loud. "Nathan, we know all about the little stunt you tried to pull." Lydia managed to say. "Frankly, I think you should have waited until at least midnight to do it, but that's just me."

"Lydia, do you really want to be responsible for corrupting America's youth like that?" Jimmy scolded playfully. "But that was a pretty good idea, Nate, do you mind if I call you Nate?"

Nathan just shook his head, Haley's parents were awesome. Did they really find it comical that he had tried to get their daughter and her friends kicked out of their condo? When he thought about it, he wasn't proud of his actions that day, but he would never want to take them back because if he wouldn't have tried to spray paint the grass, he wouldn't be here with Haley right now.

"It's just too bad that Haley caught you." Jimmy shook his head. "That would have been one hell of a prank!" He and Lydia started laughing again as Nathan let out a small laugh. Wow, these people were crazy, in a good way.

"So, Haley told me that you play basketball." Lydia said enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Nathan smiled back.

"Really? What position do you play?" Jimmy chimed in.

"Shooting guard." Nathan was happy that the subject had been changed to something he was proud of.

"That's really something. You know, I was actually the water boy on my high school basketball team. Yeah, those were the days." Jimmy said as he stared off into space, apparently remembering the good old days. "I remember this one time when the star player needed his water bottle refilled and I-"

"Dad, you're not making Nathan sit through one of your stories about you as a kid, are you?" Haley smiled as she rejoined her boyfriend and her parents.

"Of course not." Jimmy smiled sweetly.

"Come on Jimmy, the trial is about to start. Let's give them some alone time." Lydia winked before pulling her husband away by his slightly tacky tie.

"Your parents are awesome." Nathan commented as they walked away.

"Yeah, they're pretty great." She smiled as she pulled herself close to him and laid her head on his chest.

"So, I'm guessing that what that guy told you was not good." Nathan soothed as he wrapped his arms around her waist. He always knew when she was upset about something because she would get just about as close to him as possible, the worse she felt, the tighter she held onto him.

"I'm just a little scared to go up there and face him." She admitted.

"It'll be ok, I'll be right here watching you." He really didn't know what exactly to say to make her feel better. He had never had an abusive uncle and didn't know how she felt. He could guess, but he couldn't know.

"Thanks." She whispered as they were ordered to sit down by the bailiff. A few seconds later, Bobby was brought out in handcuffs and seated at the table in front of the judge. Haley was momentarily paralyzed, looking at the man who had caused her so much pain. He was thinner, had a thick growth of stubble on his chin, and his eyes were dull and bored. It wasn't until a warm hand gently squeezed hers reassuringly that she snapped out of it. She looked up and smiled at Nathan to let him know that she was fine.

She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she basically missed everything that was said in the courtroom until her name was called. She looked at Nathan for support and he gave her a small smile and nodded his head towards the witness stand.

Nathan watched as she bravely walked up to the stand, placed her hand on the Bible, and swore to tell the truth. God, she was so beautiful. Even when she was scared out of her mind she emitted a confident and cheerful glow.

"Miss James," The defense attorney began, "Can you please describe to us the call that was made to your cell phone a week ago when your uncle escaped from the federal penitentiary?"

"Well, at first I didn't know who it was. The person just said 'I'm coming for you'." Haley looked over at her uncle for the first time directly to see him staring at her with a bewildered face. "It creeped me out a little and I didn't say anything. Then my boyfriend grabbed the phone to see who it was, but the person on the other line hung up." She was relieved when she was finished explaining it. Something about that call still didn't sit right with her.

"Did this call frighten you or make you doubt your safety in any way?"

She was a little annoyed at his question, hadn't she just said that it creeped her out? "Yes, I was a little nervous after receiving the call."

"So, you say that you have no idea who this person was?" The attorney pressed on.

"At the time I didn't, no." Haley didn't really know what this windbag that called himself a lawyer was trying to prove, it was Bobby on the other line, it had to be.

"When would you say that you realized that it was, in fact, your uncle?" Nathan wanted to go up and beat the shit out of this asshole. Couldn't he tell that she was already scared to testify in the first place? Now he was bombarding her with moronic questions like, were you scared? Hello, of course she was!

"I don't really know, um, I guess it was after my mom called and told me that he escaped." Haley was now purposely avoiding Bobby's gaze.

"Ok, that will be all Miss James." The man said gruffly before dismissing her and returning to his seat and shuffling through some papers.

"You did great." Nathan whispered in her ear as she returned to her seat next to him and Bobby was called to the stand.

She smiled back at him, that testimony had been relatively harmless, and it was over much faster than she expected.

"Mr. James, you are aware that you are facing charges of escaping federal custody, attempted theft, and harassment?" The defense attorney said loudly.

"Yes." Bobby said clearly, still staring at Haley who was now ignoring him by looking down at her feet. Nathan was looking at him though, trying to figure out why the guy looked so confused.

"Can you tell us why you called your niece?" The lawyer prompted eagerly.

"I didn't." Bobby said simply.

"Excuse me?" The man said with a smile, he felt like he had just proved something as earth shattering as proving that Donald Trump was actually poor.

Haley looked up at Bobby for the first time and Nathan was staring at him intently.

"I didn't call her."


	25. Chapter 25

Hey everyone, the reviews are awesome...as always. School is starting back up this week, so I'll try to continue updating as frequently as possible. I'm not going to **promise** an update every day, but I'll try my best... anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy and please review. :-)

_Disclaimer:_ One Tree Hill doesn't belong to me. Not even a little.

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 25**

"I didn't call her." Bobby repeated.

"So, you are claiming that you did not call Miss James?" The defense attorney questioned with a smile. He was so going to get a big bonus for this. Ok, so he hadn't gotten Bobby off of everything, but he was well on his way to proving that he was innocent of harassment which would have been an extra 10 years or so, given his history.

"Yes."

Haley was more than confused right now. It had to have been Bobby on the phone, who else would have called and said something as cryptic as 'I'm coming for you'? No, Bobby had to be lying.

"If that is the case, then why were you reportedly saying something about going to visit your niece when you tried to steal the taxi?" The tall lawyer inquired.

"I wanted to tell her that I'm sorry." Bobby said sincerely as he locked eyes with Haley.

_What did he just say?_ Haley felt a shiver go up her spine. She couldn't believe anything that came out of Bobby's mouth, but that last statement had been the most sincere thing she could ever remember him saying.

Nathan looked down at Haley, trying to gage whether or not she was believing this. When she looked up at him, her face said that she wanted to believe him, but she couldn't.

The trial moved on with questions about his actual escape from prison and about where he had been as he hid for a week, but Haley didn't hear any of it. She was lost in thought. Could Bobby be telling the truth? There had been something about the voice on the phone that sounded familiar, but maybe she had convinced herself that it was him when deep down she knew it wasn't? Now her head hurt a little.

_Ok, let's assume that it wasn't Bobby,_ She told herself in order to wrap her head around the situation a little better, _then who else would it be?_ Of course, there was always the possibility that it had actually been a prank call, but she couldn't deny the fact that something about the voice didn't sit well with her.

The more she thought about it, the more she doubted herself. _Maybe I only thought it was Bobby because he was the logical suspect?_ She tried to remember the call as best she could, she remembered feeling a little shocked and a little disturbed, but she also remembered not being able to place the voice until her mom told her that Bobby had escaped, it was only after her mother's call that she had assumed it was Bobby.

_Stop it, Haley,_ She told herself, _the only reason you are even considering this is because of what Bobby said. Stop tricking yourself into believing it._ After thinking this, she realized how weird it was that she was talking to herself, in her head, in second person.

Before she knew it, the hearing was over. The jury had left to go and make their decision, Bobby had been taken away, and Nathan had grabbed her hand and led her towards the front entrance where her parents were.

"Haley Bub, you did a great job up their on the stand." Lydia beamed. "I was so proud of you for not crying like you did that one time when Taylor pulled the head of your favorite Barbie off and then hid it under Vivian's bed."

"Mom…" Haley only smiled at her mothers rambling and Nathan did the same. _So this is where she gets it from…_

"Sorry, what I meant to say was that you were very mature up there and we were both proud of you." Lydia leaned in and gave her a hug.

"Thanks," Haley responded as she hugged her mom and looked down at her watch. "Oh my gosh, um, Nathan and I really need to get going if we want to make it back at a reasonable time."

"Ok, we'll keep you posted." Jimmy said in his usual good-natured tone. "Bye Nate."

"Bye Mr. and Mrs. James, it was a pleasure to meet you." He said politely before he and Haley walked out into the parking lot and got in the car. Luckily, the rain had let up somewhat so they weren't soaked when they got in.

"So, you and my dad are on a nickname basis now, I see." Haley joked as he started the engine.

"Yeah, I guess he likes 'Nate' better than 'Nathan'." He laughed as they pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards the beach that they had come from. "Are you ever going to tell me?" He asked suddenly after a couple of minutes.

"Tell you what?" Haley looked up and him and knew immediately what he was talking about. She just didn't know what to say yet.

"What you're thinking, you know, about what Bobby said. Do you think he could be telling the truth?" His voice was soft and void of any attempt to pressure her into answering. He knew that this was probably a very sensitive subject for her right now, but he wanted to know what she thought about it so he would know how to help her handle it.

"Honestly? I'm not even sure anymore if it was Bobby that called." She looked out the window in an attempt to figure out what to say next to make him understand what was going on in her head. "I was so sure it was him, but now, maybe I was just imagining that it was? Part of me thinks that if it was him, I would have recognized his voice immediately, but the other part is telling me how easy it is for someone's voice to be unrecognizable on the phone… I just, I don't know what to think anymore."

He looked over at her for a second and could tell that she was immensely frustrated by not being able to figure this out.

"You know what? It really doesn't matter who it was that called. Because if it wasn't my uncle, than it was just a stupid prank call. And if it was him, he's back in jail now so it doesn't matter." She said, suddenly full of confidence. Who cared who it was that called?

* * *

"Peyton, are you ever going to stop hanging out with this Jake guy?" Tim whined as Peyton put on her make-up in the bathroom. 

"No." Peyton replied bluntly.

"Oh, ok. Hey, me and Nate are having a party on a yacht in like…" Tim held up his fingers to count before continuing, "4 weeks."

"Ok…" Peyton trailed off as she applied her lip gloss. Was there a point to that statement?

"I wanted to make sure you and Jake are coming." He clarified as he turned on his Playstation 2.

"Well, I'll have to check with him, he might have to take care of Jenny that day." She said simply. "Wait, how long have you known that you are going to have this party?"

"I don't know, a little over a week." Tim was already engrossed in his game and was really hoping Peyton would shut up. He had only mentioned it to her because he was hoping that she would offer to cover the cost of drinks or something.

"Ok, if you've known that you and Nathan are having a party for over a week now, why didn't either of you tell me?" Peyton fumed, she used to be consulted on decisions like this.

"You weren't here, you were with Jake." Tim said flatly.

"I've been here…some." Peyton defended herself. Ok, maybe she had been spending a lot of time with Jake lately, but she had been back here every now and then…

"Peyton, most of the time you don't even come home at night." Tim pointed out without even looking up at her from his game.

"Well…just because I'm not here every night doesn't mean that you guys should just stop telling me things!" Peyton retorted. Why were guys such jerks?

"We didn't stop. I just told you about the party, didn't I?" Tim defended himself. "If anyone stopped telling you stuff it's Nathan." He mumbled.

"Where is Nathan anyway?" Peyton asked, suddenly noticing that her friend was missing. She knew that he didn't have to work today, so where was he?

"He's in Charlotte with his girlfriend." He replied coyly, deliberately using the word 'girlfriend' instead of 'Haley'.

"What?!" Did Tim just say 'girlfriend'? Since when does Nathan have a girlfriend? "Who's his girlfriend?"

"I told you that you haven't been around!" Tim taunted as he paused his game and looked at her.

"Shut up Dim. Just tell me who his girlfriend is!" Peyton pleaded. Maybe she had been spending a little too much time away, she didn't even know that one of her best friends had a girlfriend!

"Ok, I'll tell you…it's…nah, you don't really want to know." Tim joked. He loved to get on her last nerve.

"Just tell me who it is." Peyton said in an annoyed tone as she reached into her purse. He was going to drag this out as long as possible.

"Her name is…never mind." Tim was now laughing at Peyton's irritated face.

"That's ok, you don't have to tell me." She smirked as his face fell. He loved to have information that she wanted, and playing this little game with her was not fun when she didn't care.

"Fine, then I'm not telling you." He said simply.

"Fine." Peyton pulled out her cell phone and dialed Nathan's number before Tim realized what she was doing. "Hi, Nathan, it's Peyton."

"Oh, hey Peyton. What's up?" Nathan responded casually while sitting in bumper to bumper traffic on the expressway.

"Peyton, you cheated!" Tim yelled.

"I was wondering who your girlfriend is?" She said playfully as Nathan started laughing.

"Tim told you?" He guessed.

"Yeah, I can't believe you didn't tell me! Now who is it?" She demanded.

"You mean Haley?" Nathan questioned with a smile when Haley looked at him inquisitively.

"What? Shut up! Haley James? As in our neighbor and Lucas's best friend? I can't believe this!" She was so excited for him, she knew that they had feelings for each other and had just been waiting for them to act on them.

"Yeah." Nathan confirmed as Haley's expression became more confused. "Hey, I'm sorry, I gotta go. We're stuck in traffic and I think I'm going to try and find a shortcut." He explained as he pulled onto the clear exit ramp.

"Ok, well, I'll talk to you when you get home." She smiled. She still couldn't believe it, Nathan Scott, her Nathan Scott, was going out with Haley James. Life can be full of surprises.

"Bye." Nathan hung up the phone and laughed when Haley gave him the 'what did she say' look. "She didn't know about us yet." He explained.

"What? How could she not know? Does the girl live under a rock?" She joked.

"Basically, yeah." He responded playfully. "Where the hell are we?" He questioned when they passed a small store that had a sign out front saying 'Grandma Betty's Manure and Fertilizers'. They definitely didn't have stores like that in Tree Hill.

"I have no idea. Did you take a wrong turn?" She questioned as she looked at the map that had been stashed under her seat.

"No, this is the shortcut." _No wonder no one was getting off at this exit,_ He thought.

"Ok, well, get back on the expressway, we'll just wait it out." Haley suggested.

"I can't do that." Nathan said simply. It was only then that Haley realized that they were on a one way road with large ditches on both sides. _Great._

"You're right, where the hell are we?" All civilized places at least had enough sense to leave the sides of the road level in case someone needed to turn around. Wherever they were, it was totally archaic!

"It's ok, I'll just drive in reverse until we get back to the-" Before Nathan could finish, he heard a loud horn from behind him. Someone was obviously mad that they had stopped to figure out where they were, and was honking furiously because there was no way to go around them. "Never mind. I guess we're going to keep going." He said as he put the SUV back into gear and started moving again.

_We are going to be so lost, _Haley thought as she smiled and shook her head.


	26. Chapter 26

Hello again. I really don't have too much to say other than thank you to everyone who reviewed! I always get excited when I get home from school and read them. hehe. Anyway, enjoy chapter 26!

_Disclaimer:_ I'm running out of ways to say the obvious, I don't own One Tree Hill.

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 26**

"Nathan, we are lost, we need to call someone." Haley said matter-of-factly. They had been driving for almost 20 minutes with the other car following them. Eventually, Nathan had pulled onto a trail through the woods and followed it until there was a space big enough for him to turn around. The only problem was that once he found that space, neither of them had any idea where they had come from.

"Hales, we're not lost. In fact, I know exactly where we are." Nathan said smugly.

"Really? Then where exactly are we?" She questioned sarcastically. _Ugh, men and their egos when it comes to driving and asking for directions._

"We're in the middle of the woods." He stated simply, earning a small smile from the girl in the passenger seat. "Ok, I think I found the road." Nathan proclaimed as he started following a new path.

"Nathan, you do realize that you said the same thing 20 minutes ago." Haley pointed out with a small laugh.

"Yeah, I know. But this time I'm sure." He said confidently. "We'll be out of here in no time."

"Whatever you say," she smiled. She really didn't mind being lost with Nathan, he was actually kind-of cute when he was frustrated.

"Ha! I told you this was the right way!" He gloated good-naturedly when they saw the road ahead of them.

"Yea!" Haley clapped her hands excitedly. "Now we can get out of these creepy woods."

"Uh oh, not so fast, Hales." Nathan said as he tapped a gage on the dashboard.

"Great, what is it now?" She groaned.

"I don't really know." He replied as he stopped the car. "It says that my back right tire has very low tire pressure, whatever that means."

"You've got to be kidding me." Haley mumbled with a small chuckle as Nathan got out of the car. _A flat tire? What more could go wrong?_

_Crap, _Nathan thought when he saw the deflated tire on the back of his SUV. "It looks like we've got a flat tire." He said in a slightly apologetic voice.

"Ok, I can probably fix it." Haley said as she too got out of the car to look at the tire. "I've spent lots of time with Lucas at your Uncle Keith's body shop." She explained when she saw Nathan's unconvinced look.

"I don't think so, I can do it myself." He said indignantly. There was no way he was going to let his girlfriend, or any girl for that matter, change the tire of his car. He could do it better anyway, he was sure of it.

"Ok, but I'll help you if you need me to." She offered with a smile. _Again with the male ego._

"Thanks, but I'm sure I can handle it." He smirked as he pulled her close to him. "I wouldn't want you to get all dirty."

"Nathan Scott! Are you implying that I'm too much of a girl to get dirt under my fingernails?" Haley put on a pouty face and watched as he tried to cover for himself.

"No, I just know that you can't even unclog a toilet, so what makes you think that you can change a tire?" He laughed as he remembered her trying as hard as she could to unclog that toilet and still being unsuccessful.

"Ok, just watch me." Haley said confidently as she bent down to look at the tire. "Get me a jack." She commanded as Nathan let out a small chuckle. Was she really going to do this?

He opened the trunk of his car and pulled out the jack. "What else do you need?" He asked in an amused voice when she took it from him and started turning the crank.

"Um, yeah, can you get the spare tire out for me?" She asked sweetly.

"Of course I can." He responded in an equally sweet tone as he walked back to the trunk again, lifted up the covering on the floor, and pulled the spare tire out with little trouble.

"Ok, now I can do the rest by myself." She assured him. She knew how to change the tire, the only hard part was going to be physically moving them

"Really? If you're so sure of yourself, then I'm just going to sit over here and watch." He smirked as he sat down on a dry patch of grass.

"That's fine with me, because I'm not going to need your help." She threw him a smile as she went back to taking the flat tire off.

"Good, because you're not getting my help." He said playfully. "I want to see you do it all by yourself and prove me wrong."

"I will." She huffed without looking up at him. A few minutes later, the old tire was ready to be replaced with the new one. "Nathan," She said in a charming and innocent voice. She always used that voice when she wanted him to do something because he knew that he couldn't say no to it.

"What is it?" He asked with a laugh, knowing that no matter what she asked him to do next he would end up doing, even if he had just promised her and himself that he wouldn't help. He couldn't turn her down when she used that voice.

"Can you get this old tire off for me? It's just so heavy that I can't do it." She was now batting her eyelashes and giving him her puppy dog eyes. If he was anything like his brother, he would cave after one look at them.

"Maybe…" He responded coyly as she walked over to him. "But I'm going to need something in return." He already knew that he was going to move the tire for her, but this way he could get something out of it too.

"Ok, what do you want?" She sat down on his outstretched legs and gave him a flirty smile.

"Um, how about this?" He leaned forward and captured her mouth with his as her arms went up around the back of his neck and his rested on her hips to keep her steady. Yeah, this was definitely a fair trade…

* * *

"Luke? Yeah, sorry, we're about 2 hours behind schedule." Haley said into her cell phone as she and Nathan got back onto the expressway. 

"Why the hell are you 2 hours behind?" Lucas asked in a worried tone. "What did Nathan do?"

"Nothing," Haley laughed. Lucas could be so overprotective. "We were in traffic, then we got lost, then we had a flat tire."

"Ok, well, what time do you think you'll be home?" Haley heard a small giggle in the background and concluded that Brooke was doing something that she would be glad she was not there for.

"Um, I'm not sure…" She looked at the clock and then at a nearby road sign. It was already 7:30 and they were at least 2 hours away from the beach. "Nathan, what time do you think we'll be home?"

"Um, 9:00." He said as he took a quick look at the clock.

"9?" Haley whispered as she held the phone to her shoulder. "We're 130 miles away. That means that we'd have to be going close to 90 miles an hour!"

"Well, no one's even out here. We might as well go 90 if there's no one here to see." He said mischievously as she rolled her eyes with a smile.

"We'll be back at about 9:30." She said into the phone as Nathan shook his head and chuckled.

"Ok, we'll be waiting." Lucas answered before hanging up.

Haley closed her phone and put it back into her purse. However, as soon as she set the purse back onto the floor, the phone rang again. _I should really start turning this thing off…_ "Hello?"

Nathan glanced over at her when he heard Lydia's voice booming through the speaker.

"Yeah…ok…um hum…thanks mom…love you too…bye." She hung up again and this time promptly turned the phone off before putting it back into her purse.

"What did your mom say?" Nathan asked as he quickly changed lanes and sped around the slow poke in front of him.

"The jury already came to a decision, Bobby was found guilty of escaping custody and attempted theft, but not guilty on harassment charges." Her mind was now spinning around in circles. Did this prove that Bobby really hadn't called her?

"Did he get life?" Nathan hoped to God that the idiot was locked away for life…

"Yeah…Nathan, can I ask you a question?" She responded suddenly as she turned in her seat to look at him.

"Yeah, what is it?" He became a little concerned at the seriousness of her voice. _Does she want to have the relationship talk right now? While we're driving?_ Nathan had always hated having the 'relationship talk', the one where he had to discuss where the relationship was and where it was going, it had always seemed pointless to him, but somehow, he wasn't dreading having that discussion with Haley…

"Do you think I'm crazy?" Her voice was soft so Nathan decided against laughing at the ridiculous question.

"What? Of course I don't. Why would you think that?"

"I could have sworn that it was Bobby on the phone. You know? But what if it was all in my mind? What if I just, I don't know, hallucinated that it was him?" She looked over at him, hoping to find an answer.

"Hales, you are not crazy. We don't know for a fact that it wasn't Bobby." Nathan pointed out sincerely.

"Maybe you're right…" She said doubtfully as she looked out the window again. She had to be crazy to think that someone called who didn't, didn't she?

"Hey, would I go out with a crazy person?" Nathan asked in a reassuring voice.

"I don't know, would you?" She responded with a little laugh. The thought of Nathan going out with anyone crazier than her was a little laughable. Actually, the thought of Nathan going out with someone as crazy as her was amusing; she never would have imagined him with her before this summer.

"Hell no." He answered. "And that, Haley James, is how I know you are not crazy." He concluded with a smile.

"Well, I guess I can't argue with that logic." She grinned, he always made her feel better.

"No you can't." Nathan laughed. He took a quick glance at her and noticed that she looked considerably happier and less confused. "By the way, I don't think I told you yet, but Tim is having a yacht party at the end of the summer. I'm supposed to go down and meet this Felix kid with him Monday afternoon so it looks like you'll be on your own with the chores for a couple hours."

"Are you sure that you have to go with Tim and you're not just trying to get out of cleaning?" She teased.

"I would never do that!" Nathan pretended to be hurt by her accusation and then broke back out into a smile. "You know I would always pick spending time with you over going to some gorgeous marina to look at big expensive boats."

"Really?" She laughed. "Because I would probably pick the boats."

"You know, you're really funny." He said sarcastically and with a grin. "You're just lucky that we're driving right now and I can't tickle you for that little comment."

* * *

"Dan, how many times do I have to tell you to keep your crap out the bedroom?" Deb questioned seriously as she saw a big folder on the nightstand. She walked over to it and slowly started to open it to get a look at its contents. 

"Sorry, I'll take that." Dan said quickly as he snatched the folder from her hands and retreated down the hall to his office.

"Freak." Deb muttered before entering the bathroom to get ready for bed.

Once Dan was safely in his office, he closed the door and locked it and then sat down in his large leather swivel chair. Effortlessly, he picked up the phone and dialed a series of numbers as he opened up the folder on his desk.

"Hi Tom, I just wanted to get an update from you on the progress of the case." He said in a low voice to ensure that Deb wouldn't hear. He knew that his wife would definitely not approve of his latest scheme.

"Well, as far as I can tell, the phone call really didn't have any lasting effects." Tom replied apologetically. "I really thought that it would have worked."

"That's ok, we'll just have to think of something better." Dan laughed sinisterly as he looked down at the picture of Haley James in his hand that he had taken from the folder. There was no way that the little diva was going to get away with making his son's summer miserable, he just had to think of an effective way to either get her to leave, or make her pay.


	27. Chapter 27

Ok, I have no idea what's going on with this site, but I can't get any of my documents to upload onto here. I'm sure some of you guys are having this problem too...The only reason I even have this one is because I try to have at least one chapter on the site and ready to be added to the story at all times so if I am running behind on a chapter, I will still have an update for you...unfortunately, this is the last one I have on here...so, until the site gets fixed, you'll have to wait. sorry!

P.S. I'll keep writing so I will have lots of new chapters for you guys when it gets fixed. ;-)

P.P.S. I forgot to thank you all for your lovely reviews! They are wonderful, keep it up!

_Disclaimer:_ If I owned One Tree Hill, I would not be writing fanfics…

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 27**

"I can't believe you are letting Nathan get away with ditching you this afternoon." Lucas grumbled as Haley scrambled for something to eat quickly for breakfast before heading downstairs for work. "Typical."

"Lucas," Haley said in a warning tone. "I already told you, he promised to let me take the afternoon off another day as payback. And I thought you said you were going to give him a chance?" She reached into the pantry and pulled out a granola bar.

"I did give him a chance, but he blew it by deciding to go off with Tim today and letting you do his dirty work." Lucas yawned now, suddenly becoming aware that it was 6:55 and he was awake. Why was he awake again? _Oh yeah, I need to go to the bathroom_.

Haley rolled her eyes good-naturedly as Lucas walked off towards the bathroom and she headed out the door. "Hey, what are you doing out here so early?" She questioned when she saw Nathan locking the door to his condo.

"I have to work." He shrugged as he gave her a grin.

"Work? When has that ever stopped you from sleeping in?" She laughed.

"Well, I figured I should be on time today since I'm cutting out early." He smiled as she walked over and kissed him softly on the lips.

"That's very sweet of you." She cooed. "But we're both going to be late unless we get moving."

They made their way down to Whitey's office and entered without a knock to see Whitey snoozing in his chair. Haley looked at Nathan as if to ask if they should wake him up. He responded by clearing his throat to announce their presence.

"No! I want the spotted horse!" Whitey yelled as he came back into consciousness. "Oh, it's you." He mumbled as he noticed Nathan and Haley standing by the doorway.

"A spotted horse?" Nathan questioned with a smirk.

"Nathan, don't you have better things to do than antagonize me?" Whitey's face was red. Nathan couldn't tell if it was from anger or embarrassment and he really didn't care, either one was fine.

"No."

"Well, I should have guessed that much. If you did, you wouldn't be stuck cleaning at 7:00 in the morning." Whitey grinned as he looked through the papers on his desk in search of the list of jobs that needed to be done that he had made yesterday. "Ok, here's the list of everything that needs to be done today." He said as he handed the list to Haley, he figured she would be more responsible with it.

"Whitey, there are like fifty things on here." Nathan complained as he took a look at the list over Haley's shoulder.

"No, there are only 12!" Whitey defended himself. "Now you two might want to get to work if you want to be finished by the time the sun sets." He grinned deviously as Nathan and Haley left the office in search for paint brushes.

* * *

"I can't believe Whitey is actually making up repaint this dumb sign." Haley complained. It really wasn't that bad of a job, applying a fresh coat of paint to the sign at the front entrance, she was just on a bad mood now because some of the cream colored paint had splattered all over her favorite t-shirt when she opened it. 

"Tell me about it." Nathan smiled again when he looked at Haley who had cream colored spots all over the front of her light purple shirt, in her hair, and even a little still on her face. When this had first happened, he had almost fallen over laughing, but he couldn't deny the fact that it made her look cute as hell.

"I've got an idea." Haley said playfully as she picked up an unused paintbrush and dipped it into the can of red paint. Nathan watched her with an amused face as she made her way over to the sign that was already finished for the most part.

She bent down and painted something in the lower right-hand corner where it was unlikely to be seen because of the flowers that were planted there. When she was finished, she backed away so Nathan could see what she wrote. What he saw almost took his breath away.

There was a small heart with the initials NS and HJ inside of it. Sure, the heart was a little lopsided, but that didn't matter. "Now we'll have something to remember today by." She smiled as he grabbed her hand and pulled her close to him.

"I love it." He whispered in her ear before kissing it. Kiss by kiss, his lips made their way down to her mouth. She dropped the paintbrush onto the ground and stretched her arms out to go around his neck.

"Hey! Get back to work!" Whitey shouted from his window when he saw his 'employees' focusing more on each other than their work.

Haley started laughing as Nathan turned to wink at him. Whitey had made it obvious that he knew that they were together about a week ago when he blatantly told them that if they got 'sidetracked' while working, he would have no problem with assigning them separate sections of the condos to work in.

"We'll be done in a few minutes." Nathan yelled back as he pulled Haley in for another kiss. Her lips curved into a smile and so did his when they heard Whitey cursing and then slamming the window shut.

* * *

"What time do you have to meet Tim at the Marina?" Haley questioned as she vigorously pulled at some green weeds that were smothering the little purple flowers that she had planted weeks ago. 

"Uh, in about an hour." He replied as he pulled the lawnmower out of the nearby shed. "I want to get this done before I have to go."

"Ok." Haley took the list out of chores for the day and was pleasantly surprised to see that the only one left was vacuuming. She hadn't realized that they had gotten to the end of the list already. Vacuuming had actually been number 4 on this list, but since it was a one person job, and one that she really didn't mind doing, they had decided to save it for her to do without him.

A little over an hour later, Haley had finished pulling the weeds and was sitting on a bench waiting for Nathan to finish. Once he had cut every last blade of grass, ok, not every one, he may have cut a few corners, he turned off the lawnmower and pushed it back into the shed.

"I'm sorry about leaving you." He said as he pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead. He felt really bad about running off and leaving her here to finish all the work.

"I know, you already apologized a few times." She smiled. She secretly loved the fact that he kept apologizing, it let her know that he cared about her having to do the rest of the work. "Now go on, you're already late." She leaned up and left a chaste kiss on his lips before ushering him off towards his car.

"Hey." Haley heard a voice behind her call out and turned around to see Peyton coming towards her.

"Oh, hey Peyton." Haley smiled. She hadn't seen Peyton since before her and Nathan went to Charlotte. Now that she thought about it, she really hadn't seen much of her at all for the past couple of weeks. "What's up?"

"Well, I was just coming down here to see if I can help out my best friend's _girlfriend_." Peyton replied playfully, hoping to instill a little guilt into Haley for not telling her about them sooner.

Haley just laughed at Peyton's fake hostility. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you." She smiled as she pulled her friend into a hug. "It feels like I haven't seen you in ages."

"Yeah, I know. Jake's actually working today, so, here I am."

"How's that going anyway? You and Jake?"

"Whoa! You_ forget_ to tell me that you are going out with my best friend and then you expect me to give you the details on my love life?" Peyton joked. "I don't know if I can trust you, for all I know, you're pregnant with his baby!"

"What?!" Haley laughed. "I am definitely not pregnant." She confirmed.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Nate said something awhile back about you wanting to save yourself for marriage or something." Peyton said simply. "I think that's really smart of you."

Haley smiled a little to herself. The only time she had ever mentioned to Nathan that she wanted to remain a virgin until her wedding night was a few weeks after they had started working together, when they weren't even going out yet. It made her feel good to know that he was listening, that he remembered, and that he respected her decision. _No wonder he is always the first one to stop the make-out sessions…_Haley thought, _He is trying not to pressure me._ Aw, he was just too perfect!

"Thanks." Haley replied. "Now, you and Jake."

"I knew that was coming!" Peyton laughed. "Things are good."

"Good?" Haley raised her eyebrows suggestively. If her absence the past couple of weeks was any indication, things with Jake were better than 'good'.

"Ok, um, things have been great." Peyton broke out into a smile. She was still getting used to smiling. Ever since her mom died, she had been semi-depressed and almost unable to have a good time. Now, she couldn't stop smiling, especially when she thought of Jake.

"Well, good. I'm happy for you. And so is Nathan." Haley added genuinely.

"That reminds me, the reason I came down here in the first place was to see if you needed any help." Peyton replied, changing the subject. "Nathan said that you were going to have to do the rest of the work by yourself today so I decided to give you a hand."

"How nice of you," Haley encouraged as she hooked her arm through Peyton's and led her to the closet on the inside of the building. "It's just too bad that you had no idea what you were getting yourself into when you offered."

"Oh boy, what do you mean?" Peyton grumbled.

"Well, all that's left is vacuuming and there is only one vacuum. Lucky for you though, Whitey mentioned something about wiping down the walls some time this week, so, I guess you should get yourself a rag." Haley grinned as Peyton groaned.

* * *

Nathan was about 5 minutes from the marina when his cell phone started vibrating in his pocket. He turned down the music that had previously been blaring and reached into his pocket to pull it out. "Hello?" 

He had been half expecting to hear Haley's cheerful voice on the other end so he was unpleasantly surprised to hear Dan's.

"Hello son, how are you?" His father's unnaturally perky voice blared through the speaker.

"Fine." Nathan replied coolly. Why was Dan in such a good mood? And why the hell was Dan calling?

"That's great. I'm happy to hear that you are doing ok after having your summer ruined by the skank next door."

"Dad-"

"So, listen Nate, I'm actually coming down there tonight and I was hoping that we could grab a bite to eat." Dan said in his most innocent voice, which still sounded sinister.

"Uh, I don't think so." Nathan did not want to deal with Dan right now. In fact, he didn't feel like dealing with Dan ever.

"Come on Nathan, we haven't spent any quality time together all summer." Dan stated.

"I know…" Wasn't that kind-of the point?

"You know what? I want to spend some quality time with my son, is that too much to ask?" Dan said in an annoyed tone.

"Pretty much, yeah." Nathan pulled his car into the parking lot at the marina.

"Fine, well, I can't force you. But, oh, I forgot to tell you, you got a letter here from Duke."

Nathan rolled his eyes. Great, now Dan was going through his mail too?

"I'll be at Buffalo Wild Wings tonight at 6:00." Nathan could tell that Dan was smirking on the other line. "If you want your letter, I'll bring it with me."

Before Nathan had a chance to respond, Dan hung up. _Damn it,_ Nathan thought. _Another 'dinner' with Dan? Kill me now._


	28. Chapter 28

Hey everyone, the site is working again! Yay! haha, Anyway, thank you for the reviews, they make me so happy. Here's chapter 28, I hope you like!

_Disclaimer:_ Neither James Lafferty nor One Tree Hill belong to me, and sadly, they probably never will…

_Summary: Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 28**

"Nate! You're finally here!" Tim cheered as Nathan entered into a small air conditioned office at the entrance to the marina.

"Yeah, sorry I'm late." He mumbled. He was no longer in a mood that was even remotely close to good, thanks to Dan.

"No prob. Felix just went in the back to get the list of available vessels for the day that we want to charter one." Tim replied as he picked up the business cards on the desk and started to shuffle them.

"What the hell did you just say?" Nathan gave him an irritated look. "Tim, when you use big words like that, you only make yourself look stupider."

"You're just mad because you don't know what those words mean." Tim gloated.

"I know what they mean, I'm just surprised that you do too." Nathan admitted bitterly. Why couldn't Tim just talk like a normal person so that he didn't have to actually think in order to understand him?

"Whatever. Dude, this Felix guy, he is totally my new idol." Tim said a little louder than a whisper as Nathan gave him a weird look. "He told me that he's gone out with 5 girls…at the same time! How crazy is that?"

"Ok, first of all Tim, why would he tell you something like that? And second of all, why would I care?" Nathan said in an aggravated tone.

"God, just chill Nathan. You have some major issues." Tim replied as Felix came back out from the back room.

"Hey, you must be Nate. I'm Felix." The dark haired guy said as he extended his hand to Nathan.

"It's Nathan." He scowled as he shook Felix's outstretched hand. Nathan took a moment to actually look at the kid. He was a little scrawny, but still well built. He was wearing baggy jeans and 2 polo shirts with **both** collars popped.

"Right, Nathan, so are you ready to take a look at my beautiful boats?" Felix questioned with a grin.

"Yeah, let's just make this quick…"

Felix led Tim and Nathan out to the docks and carefully chose the longest one to walk down. "This right here is classy and perfect for an afternoon cocktail party." He said simply as he pointed to a small but stylish boat that had a large open patio area on the top deck.

"No way! We need something bigger! This party is going to be a off the chain!" Tim yelled excitedly as he ignored Felix's first proposal. Nathan just watched, rather bored. Didn't he tell Tim to handle this stuff?

"Ok, well this one is perfect or you then." Felix wiggled his eyebrows as he pointed to a larger boat that had a large outdoor area and also and indoor sitting room. "This one is sure to attract a bunch of hotties."

"That sounds good to me, but Nathan has a girlfriend." Tim pointed out, confused. If Nathan had a girlfriend, then why would he want a boat that would attract a bunch of hot girls?

Nathan rolled his eyes subtly at Tim's moronic statement. "Well, this boat here can certainly help a guy lucky if you know what I mean." Felix winked. "Trust me, I know from experience."

_Idiot,_ Nathan thought as he watched Felix show them the last and biggest of the yachts. This guy had to be more annoying that Lucas. Maybe not as annoying as Chris, but definitely more annoying than Lucas.

"We'll take this one!" Nathan heard Tim shout out as he shook hands with Felix. It was then that Nathan actually looked up at the boat for the first time. It was a stunning 2 story boat with a large outdoor deck, indoor sitting area and bar, and an open patio on the top with chairs and tables. He had to admit, this yacht was impressive.

"Great! Let's step into my office and sign the papers." Felix smirked as he lazily dropped an arm over Tim's shoulder and led him into the office. _Ok, that's just a little gay…_ Nathan thought as he watched Tim and Felix start laughing about something.

* * *

"Why can't you just say no?" Haley questioned as she sat on Nathan's balcony with him later that day.

"Because, no matter how many times I say no, he's just going to keep calling until I say yes. I'd rather get it over with than have to listen to his voice every day." Nathan said bitterly as he sat in the char next to her. He had gotten home from the Marina about an hour ago and needed someone to vent to about Dan, so he had called Haley.

"I'm sorry. I could go with you if you want me to." She offered.

Nathan thought about this for a second but quickly dismissed the idea after remembering the last time Dan came to visit and how he had referred to Haley on the phone. No, Haley coming was definitely a bad idea. "I'll be fine. Besides, I don't want you getting into the line of fire too."

"Ok, well, I'll be here all night if you need me." She said as she laid her head against his shoulder and they stared out at the ocean.

Haley could tell that Nathan wasn't telling her everything about Dan. He never really gave her an explanation of why he hadn't told Dan about them or why he didn't want her to meet him. She had just assumed it was because he hated his father that much, but now she was starting to get the impression that there was another reason, but she didn't know what it was.

Nathan looked over at Haley for a second before returning his gaze to the steadily rising and falling waves on the horizon. He had never told her about what happened during Dan and Deb's last visit and had never mentioned that his father already hated her without even meeting her. It made him feel so guilty inside to know that she was so sweet that she offered to go with him to face his father and he had told her no without telling her the real reason why. He just didn't want to expose her to the disaster that was Dan Scott.

"Oh, you better get going if you want to be ready on time." Haley said as she looked down at her watch. "I'll see you later?"

"I'll call you when I get back." He assured her as he stood up, left a soft kiss on her forehead, and then went into the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

"Nathan! I knew you'd come!" Dan proclaimed happily as he sat at a table in Buffalo Wild Wings and watched his son approach him with a sullen face.

"So, what exactly do you want Dad?" Nathan said bluntly as he sat down across from his father.

"What do I want? I want to spend some quality time with my son, watch a few games, and have a few drinks. Is that really that difficult for you to believe?" Dan asked in his best hurt voice.

"Yeah, actually it is." Nathan said seriously.

"Nathan, all I want is for my son to have a good summer. And I want to be a part of that summer." Dan persuaded.

"Can I take your drink orders?" A tall black haired woman said as she came up to the table.

"I'll just have a coke." Nathan said while still glaring at Dan. Something was wrong with him, Dan Scott never wanted anything for anyone except himself.

"I'll have a Bud Light." Dan smiled sweetly and then went back to his conversation with Nathan. "So how is your summer going?"

"I already told you, fine." It was obvious that Nathan would rather be anywhere but here.

"Really? I never would have guessed that becoming the janitorial staff for the condo you're living in could be classified as fine." Dan pressed on.

"Just drop it, Dad." Nathan mumbled.

"Nathan, I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble believing that you are so passive about this whole thing. It seems almost as if you don't care." At this moment, the waitress came back with their drinks and took their meal orders.

"All I'm saying is that maybe you should consider the person who got you into this mess and refocus some of your misplaced anger towards me onto that person." Dan was doing his best to stick to the plan that he and Tom had worked out, the one where they convince Nathan to help them in bringing a certain somebody down, but he hadn't expected Nathan to be this cold towards him.

Was this conversation seriously going back to Haley? How many times did he have to tell his dad that he wasn't going there! "Just shut up, Dad."

"Look, son, all I'm saying is that if little Haley James would have kept her pretty little nose where it belongs, then you wouldn't be stuck wasting your whole summer away cleaning floors." Dan wasn't sure if it was a good sign or a bad one that Nathan looked so irritated right now.

"I thought you said that you had a letter for me." Nathan said, changing the subject.

"A letter? Oh right, the letter from Duke." Dan concluded out loud. "I read it. It was a load of crap so I fed it to my new shredder."

"What?" Did Dan just say that he shredded his letter without even letting him see it? "Are you kidding me? Dad! It wasn't your letter to read and it sure as hell wasn't your letter to shred!" By this time Nathan was furious. Dan had invited him to this dinner and Nathan had thought that the reason was to give him this letter, but apparently Dan had hidden motives, again.

"Listen, in my defense, the letter was addressed to a Mr. Scott, and last time I checked, that was my name too." Dan really couldn't see why Nathan was so angry, it was just a useless letter that offered him a chance to go to a 3 week basketball camp during the Christmas season, it's not like there would have been scouts there anyway.

"Are you serious? You read the letter and then after knowing it was mine you still threw it away?" This was unbelievable. He had absolutely no privacy or freedom as long as he was part of that family.

"Nathan, I'm telling you, that letter was a waste of your time. Now about Haley-"

"Why the hell do you keep bringing her up?" Dan didn't know about him dating Haley so why was he so interested in her? And there was no way that Nathan was going to let his father get away with going through his mail, so Dan might as well drop the Haley subject right now.

"She's the reason that your summer is turning out so horrible. I was just thinking that maybe you might want to help me in putting her in her place. I already tried a few things but-"

"What are you talking about?" Nathan was suddenly listening intently to what Dan was saying. Did he just say that he had already done some things, as in, to Haley? What the hell?

"I knew you'd be interested." Dan smirked as Nathan stared at him with wide eyes. "I paid this guy who works at Dairy Queen to dig up some information on her and then told him to call her with a mysterious message, to, you know, scare her a little."

Nathan looked at his father with disgust as Dan started laughing at his own brilliance. "Do you have any idea how damn sick you make me?! How the hell could you even think about doing that? I told you to leave her alone!" All along, Dan had been the reason that Haley got that call, not Bobby. "God, do you have any idea what you did to her? How scared you made her?!"

"She was scared? It worked? Wow, I was under the impression that it was a total failure. But I still think that we need something bigger for next time-" Dan was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Nathan get out of his seat.

"No, there will be no next time." He warned. "If you ever come near her, or me for that matter, again, I swear to God I will beat the hell out of you." Nathan normally didn't talk to his father this way, but it actually felt kind of good to get it all out and let the bastard know how he really felt.

"Whatever you say…" Dan mumbled as he tried to hold in his laughter. "But when you come to your senses and realize that this girl ruined your entire summer, I'll be waiting with open arms."

The last thing that Nathan did before he left the restaurant, was finally take out all the frustration that had built up because of Dan in the past few years in the form of a punch, delivered right into Dan Scott's left eye.


	29. Chapter 29

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the reviews! I actually have a question for all of you... as of right now, this story is set to have about 36 or 37 chapters... **what I need to know is if you guys want me to write an epilogue for this one and then start a completely new story, or if you would rather I did a sequel?** I would really appreciate feedback on this because it will help me determine exactly how to conclude this story...thanks! Anyway, here's the next chapter...enjoy!

_Disclaimer: _I only wish that I could own One Tree Hill.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 29**

Haley looked up at the clock while she sat curled up in a ball on the couch reading a book. When was Nathan going to be home? She knew what seeing his father did to him and she just wanted to make sure that he was ok.

Suddenly, there was a loud pounding at the door. It had to be Nathan. Haley quickly got up off the couch and opened the door to see Nathan standing in front of her with another black eye and a flustered expression.

"Oh my God! Nathan, what happened?" She exclaimed when she saw his eye and noticed his busted lip.

His only response was pulling her into a tight hug and burying his head down into her neck. "I'm sorry." He mumbled softly.

Haley had no idea what he was talking about, but instead of asking, she just pulled him inside and led him to the kitchen to get some ice. _Déjà vu much?_

"Thanks." He said in a low voice as she handed him a real icepack, unlike the makeshift one he used last time. After closing the freezer door, she leaned back against the counter and folded her arms over her chest. He was going to have to tell her eventually. "I'm guessing you want an explanation?"

"Yeah, one of those would be nice." Haley joked.

"Well…I hit Dan…" Nathan started carefully. How was he supposed to tell his girlfriend that his dad had paid someone to scare her into leaving? It's not like that happens every day. And how was he supposed to tell her that it was basically his fault that Dan felt the need to do it in the first place?

Haley was not really surprised to hear that Nathan had hit Dan, she had always known that it would happen sooner or later. However, she was blown away by the fact that Dan hit him back. Nathan was his son for God's sake!

"Hales, we need to talk." Nathan said softly as he led her towards the couch and motioned for her to sit down.

_Uh Oh, this sounds serious,_ Haley thought as she took a seat where Nathan had pointed and he sat next to her. "Ok, um, what is it?"

"Dan's an ass." Nathan started as he played nervously with his hands. He knew that he had to tell her but he really didn't want to make her scared of his family, or him for that matter, in any way.

"Ok…" Haley looked at him quizzically. Was he going to explain the reasoning behind that logic?

Nathan looked up at her and saw the slightly confused expression on her face. "I, um, I hit Dan because he did some things."

"Nathan, just tell me already." Haley laughed as she put her hand on his shoulder. She was then surprised when he seriously took her hand into his and softly brought it to his lips.

He let out a deep breath and then began to explain. "You know how my mom and Dad came for a visit a few weeks ago?" Haley nodded her head slowly. Where was this going? "Well, my dad found out about the spray painting and how I have to spend the rest of the summer cleaning."

"I'm sorry, but I don't understand. What? Did he yell at you or something?" Haley was really confused now. What had Dan done that would make Nathan angry enough to punch him and what did that have to do with their cleaning job?

"Hales, he also found out that you were the one that caught me." Nathan said. "I swear I didn't tell him!"

"Nathan, you're starting to scare me a little bit. What do I have to do with any of this?" She looked at him through worried eyes. Whatever he was trying to tell her could not be good.

Nathan bit his lip for a moment and looked into her eyes before going on. "Dan decided that you should take the blame for 'ruining' my summer and pretty much made it his personal responsibility to get revenge for me." He saw her eyes grow wide with confusion, disbelief, and a tiny hint of fear.

She really didn't know what he was trying to say, but the first thing that popped into her head was that he was breaking up with her. Why was that the first thing she thought? Who knows. _Oh my Gosh, Dan thought of an evil plan to get back at me where Nathan would make me fall for him and then crush my heart to pieces, and Nathan went along with it, didn't he?_

_No, that's not right. _She quickly dismissed the absurd thought from her mind. She knew that her feelings or him were real and she was sure that he felt the same. Nevertheless, she had to ask the question. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"What?" A shocked and almost panicked face spread across his handsome features. Why would she think that? He was definitely not trying to break up with her; in fact, a break up was the last thing she wanted. "No, I'm not breaking up with you."

She felt relieved when she heard that. "Well, then tell me what's bothering you! God, don't scare me like that!"

Nathan felt his insides warm a little bit. She didn't want to break up either! However, he quickly remembered the task at hand that involved him telling his girlfriend all of his father's evil doing. "Sorry, what I meant to say is that apparently Dan did something to get back at you for me…and I didn't know." Haley gave him an encouraging look as if to say 'go on'. "Dan was the one who called your cell phone that day, not Bobby."

She stared at him skeptically, trying to decide whether or not to believe this. "But it didn't sound like Dan. The voice sounded familiar, but not like your dad."

"Well, he didn't actually do it; he paid that Tom guy who works at Dairy Queen to make the call." Nathan responded quietly before looking up to meet her gaze. He watched as the realization hit her.

As soon as Nathan said that it was that Tom guy from Dairy Queen, Haley knew that he was telling the truth. Something just clicked in her mind and she was immediately able to place the mysterious voice as Tom's. She remembered buying her ice cream from him almost every week last summer."How long have you known?"

"I just found out today, hence the black eye." Nathan smiled slightly and pointed to his eye.

"So let me get this straight, your dad prank called me out of some twisted act of love and then he just admitted it to your face?" Why would Dan openly admit to something like that?

"No, he asked me to help him bring you down because the phone call didn't work." He responded sullenly.

A small smile spread across Haley's lips. "Did you agree to help him?" She teased. This whole thing was actually sort-of funny. She couldn't believe that Dan had acted so 'Godfather-like'.

"Hales, this isn't funny." Nathan said sternly. "Did you not hear what I just said? My dad basically harassed you!"

She giggled a little at how flustered he looked and at how much he was exaggerating the situation. "Honestly, I'm kind-of relieved to know that it was Dan, or Tom, or whoever, who called because now I know that it wasn't some creepy stalker guy. Besides, it's your dad, why would I be scared of him?"

Nathan watched her laugh a little as she got up off the couch. She didn't understand. Because it was his dad was the exact reason that she should be scared. Dan Scott always finished what he started.

* * *

"So, wait, it was Dan? The whole time?" Brooke questioned as she and Haley laid out by the pool the next afternoon. Nathan had insisted that she take the afternoon off since he got to yesterday. 

"Yeah," Haley pulled her sunglasses to the top of her head and sat up a little to look at Brooke. "Is it weird that I'm kind-of relieved?"

"No, I would totally be relieved if I thought that my crazy uncle called and threatened me but then it turned out to be my boyfriend's father." Brooke paused for a second and her face scrunched up a bit. "Actually, on second thought, that is a little weird."

Haley laughed a little. "I guess I'm just a little relieved to know that it was Dan and that there is no real threat." She rationalized.

"Tutor Girl, are you sure that there is no real threat? I mean, yeah, he's Lucas and Nathan's father so you would assume that he's not dangerous or anything, but he did go through the trouble of calling you and everything, didn't he?"

"True…" Haley thought about this for a minute but quickly dismissed the notion. She didn't want to live in fear the way she had been for the last couple of weeks. "So, Nathan and Tim are having a yacht party in like 4 weeks and Nathan said that I could invite you guys." She said, changing the subject.

"A yacht party? Nice. We are so there!" Brooke squealed, she lived for parties.

"Speaking of, where is Lucas?"

"Oh, I'm so glad you finally asked!" Brooke clapped her hands together excitedly. "He went to get me a present."

"Why?" Haley questioned slowly. It wasn't Brooke's birthday or anything…

"Because it's my ¾ birthday." Brooke said matter-of-factly.

"Brooke, I love you, but there is no such thing as a ¾ birthday." Haley stated with a laugh.

"Yes there is!" Brooke said defensively. "You know, today is the day that is exactly halfway between my half birthday and my real birthday."

"And Lucas is actually buying you a present for this?" Haley couldn't help but laugh out loud at the thought of Lucas shopping for a present for this 'special' day.

"You bet your ass he is!" Brooke giggled. "He's the best boyfriend ever." She said as she stared off into space dreamily. "Speaking of boyfriends, we have an incredibly hot one headed our way."

Haley looked up to see what Brooke was talking about and saw Nathan open the large gate and enter the pool area. "Hey, you have your own Scott brother." She reminded her friend as she got up from her lounge chair.

Brooke watched Haley walk over to Nathan and pull him into a tight hug. Although Haley had not admitted it yet, Brooke could tell that she was already head over heals for this guy. At this point, she decided that it would be a good idea if she gave them some space so she gathered her belongings and headed back to her condo.

"Wow, I'm going to have to give you the afternoon off more often if it will get you into a bikini like this." He joked as she playfully swatted at his shoulder and then grabbed the hat off his head that he had previously been wearing backwards. "Hey now, that's my hat."

"But I need it." She whined playfully as she put it onto her head. "It's so hot out here."

"Fine, you can wear it." He smiled. "But only because you look so damn cute in it."

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment." She laughed. "You're done with work already?"

"Yeah, I told you I work faster without you as a distraction." He teased.

"Oh, shut up. You know you missed me." She smiled.

He leaned down to kiss her, but as soon as his lips got within a few inches of hers, he swiftly gathered her into his arms and pulled them both down into the pool. "Oh my gosh! You did not just do that!" Haley laughed as she surfaced from under the water.

"I slipped." He joked and ducked under water as she lunged at him.

"Hey, what's going on?" Chris gasped for air as he spoke.

"What the heck are you doing?" Haley shrieked. Chris had just popped up from underwater out of nowhere.

"I was trying to see how long I could hold my breath." Chris explained as Nathan gave him an extremely annoyed look. "I made it to 100 seconds."

"Keller, you are by far the weirdest person I have ever met in my life." Nathan mumbled as Chris prepared for his next attempt to break his previous record.

"See you guys later." Chris quickly dunked back under the water as Haley stared at the place that he had stood in a split second ago.

"Ok, how did we not see him there?" Haley laughed.

"We were busy." Nathan joked.

"Oh my God!" Haley jumped up when she felt Chris swim right past her leg.

Nathan saw her jump up and then noticed Chris swimming away. It didn't take much for him to figure out what happened. "Chris, what the hell is your problem?" Nathan yelled as he tried to move past Haley to chase Chris who was now laughing and hurrying out of the pool. Once he got out and tried to run, he promptly slipped and fell back on his butt.

"Just let him go." She soothed as she put her hand on his chest to stop him and Chris got up and ran out of the pool area.

"asshole." Nathan muttered. Yes, Chris was definately more annoying than Felix.


	30. Chapter 30

Hello everyone. Thanks for the reviews… they make me smile. Feel free to keep sending your opinions on whether or not I write a sequel or a new story…I would appreciate it a lot! Well, enjoy chapter 30!

_Disclaimer:_ I think you all know this by now, but just in case, I do not own One Tree Hill or any of its characters.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 30**

"So, are you excited?" Haley questioned playfully as she lined up her putter and hit her bright yellow ball towards the hole a few feet away. It bounced off the wall and went right in.

"About what?" Nathan played along. It was a Friday night, and to celebrate another week of cleaning finished, Haley had decided to treat Nathan to a round of miniature golf.

"Your party." She replied with a smile as she bent down and up her ball. "It's in 2 weeks."

"First of all, it's Tim's party." He laughed as he attempted the same shot that Haley had just made with his dark blue ball and missed. "And second of all, stop distracting me. Look what you made me do?" He feigned annoyance as he pointed to his ball that was a good 3 feet from the hole.

"Oh please, I had nothing to do with you missing that shot." She said defensively. "You lined your putter up all wrong with the ball and you banked it in the wrong spot."

"Excuse me. I know how to play putt-putt. Thank you." He laughed. "And how would you know that anyway?"

"It's simple geometry." Haley explained. "You have to hit the ball in the exact right spot for it to be deflected into the whole."

"Oh, is that so?" Nathan softly tapped the ball into the whole and followed her to the next hole. "If it's simple geometry, then let's see you make a whole in one on this one."

Haley studied the hole carefully. There was a small bridge that seemingly led right to the whole and a large slanted hill to the side of it. Upon farther inspection, Haley realized that if the ball was sent across the bridge, the velocity would be so great that it would bounce off the rim of the whole. However, sending the ball over the hill would curve it and give it just enough momentum to fall gently into the hole. She smiled smugly to herself as she placed her ball on the beginning mat and pointed the putter towards the hill.

"Ok, I'm going to help you out a little, um, you want to hit the ball over that bridge right there." Nathan laughed cockily.

"No…I know what I'm doing." She responded smugly as she flashed the smirk that she had learned so well from him. With that, she hit the ball and sent it swiftly rolling over the hill and straight into the hole. "Yes! Hole in One!" Haley cheered for herself.

"That, right there, is not right!" Nathan pouted.

"Oh, poor Nathan, did I embarrass you?" Haley said playfully.

"No, because I can get a hole in one too." He said indignantly as he bent down and placed his ball on the mat.

"Fine, but if you want some help, just aim right here." He pointed her putter to a spot right at the top of the hill.

"I don't need help. That's where I was aiming anyway." She laughed at how big his ego could be at times. He was acting just the way he had when she changed the tire. It was very amusing. Nathan hit the ball into the exact spot that Haley had pointed to and easily made a hole in one.

"Wooh! Go Nathan!" Haley cheered as he bent down to grab his ball.

"Have you ever considered being a cheerleader?" He asked playfully as he walked up in front of her and wrapped his arms around her back.

"No. No, no, no. No." She said adamantly and with a little giggle. "Why?"

"Because you're good at it." He shrugged. "And because you'd look sexy as hell in the uniform." He joked.

Before he could say anything, She swiftly pulled his head down to hers in a passionate kiss. "No cheerleading." She whispered.

"Ok…" Nathan managed as he eagerly kissed her back. Then, he realized that they were in the middle of a miniature golf course and pulled away. "Maybe we should…"

"Nathan, come here." Haley grabbed his hand and led him over to a nearby bench where they both sat down. "We've never really talked about this and I think it's time that we do."

Nathan was a little confused at this point. What was she talking about?

Noticing the slight confusion in his eyes, she decided to continue. "I know that you know that I want to wait until I get married to have sex." She had wanted to have this conversation for some time now, but had been putting it off.

Nathan was taken completely off guard by this. He had not expected her to want to discuss this now, here, in public. No one was near them, but it still surprised him that she wanted to bring it up here. All he did was nod his head.

She smiled a little at his shyness. She looked around and saw that the closest people were all the way back on hole number two. Nathan and Haley were a good 10 holes ahead of them. They had time to talk… "I just wanted to thank you for not pressuring me…and I kind-of wanted to know what you thought?"

Nathan looked up at her and saw a certain vulnerability in her eyes. No doubt she had had this conversation with at least one other person and apparently they had not been happy with her decision.

Haley's heart was racing now, the last time that she told a guy that she wanted to wait, he was gone in the blink of an eye. Sure, Nathan already knew, but she had never actually told him directly once they started dating, and she was absolutely terrified of losing him.

"Honestly?" Nathan watched her carefully nod her head and brace herself for the worst. "Haley, it only makes me respect you more." He answered sincerely.

She looked up at him through almost surprised eyes that were dancing with happiness. "Really?"

"I love the way you're not easy like half of the other girls at school." Nathan assured her softly. "And I want you to know something, Hales, I'll wait as long as you want." He was careful not to say anything that would lead her to believe that he thought they would get married in the future, because he had never really even thought of the possibility, he was only 17!

A wide smile graced her face as she lunged at him and pulled him into a searing kiss. "Thank you." She whispered as she moved to kiss him more deeply.

"Hey, fancy running into you guys here." Chris Keller laughed as he came up behind them.

Haley and Nathan pulled away from each other quickly and stood up. "Chris! Are you, like, following us or something?" Haley questioned as Nathan shot him an evil glare. Why did it seem like he was everywhere?

"No, I thought you guys were following me." Chris said innocently as Nathan rolled his eyes.

"Is there something you want?" Nathan asked finally after about a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"Yeah." Chris smiled. Haley and Nathan gave him an expectant look. "Oh, you want to know what it is?"

"Not really." Nathan mumbled before Chris started speaking again.

"I want to challenge you guys to a match." Chris winked as he bounced his pink ball up and down on the concrete sidewalk.

"Ha. We'll pass." Haley said mockingly. If they played this game, there was a good chance that Nathan would _accidentally_ get hit with Chris's putter. _Nathan has had enough black eyes for one summer,_ She thought.

"Come on! If either of you guys win, I'll move out of the condos and leave you alone for the rest of the summer." Chris pleaded.

"I'm in." Nathan said quickly. Sure, there were only about 2 weeks left of summer, but it was worth it. He was brought out of his thoughts by a pointy elbow softly hitting him in the ribs. "Ow."

"What if you win?" Haley asked skeptically as she took a drink of the Gatorade Nathan had bought her.

"I get to go out on a date with you." Chris smirked.

Haley choked on her drink. "No way in hell." Nathan said loudly. He wanted Chris out of the condos, but not enough to make Haley suffer by going out with him. He still remembered the last time that Chris was alone with her… not good.

"Ok, ok, fine. I win, you have to invite me to your party." Chris said eagerly.

"What party?" Nathan played dumb. How did Chris find out about the party?

"The party that you and Tim are having in 2 weeks," Chris said in annoyance. "You know, the end of summer party on the yacht? Yeah, I heard that you need an invitation to get in and I think mine must have been sent to my New York penthouse by accident. So I need a new one."

Haley looked at him carefully. She did not want Chris to be there to push both her and Nathan's buttons.

"Fine, we're in." Nathan announced as he glanced at Haley.

"Sweet! I'm going to go get the putter that Tiger Woods gave me from my car. I'll be right back." Before either Nathan or Haley could protest, Chris was retreating back to his "car" that happened to be a golf cart.

"Did he actually drive that thing here?" Nathan mumbled before turning to see Haley staring at him with raised eyebrows.

"Can I ask why you agreed to this game?" She said in a serious yet playful voice.

"Hales, you are amazing at putt-putt. There is no way that we won't win." Nathan said confidently.

"Got it!" Chris called as he approached them with a new putter in his hand. "I'm first!" He quickly lined his ball up on the mat and sent it right past the hole. Then, something bizarre happened. The ball was a good 3 inches past the hole and it started to roll backwards until it dropped in.

"What the hell?" Nathan grumbled as he watched Chris triumphantly make his way to the metal cup that was the hole and bend down to pick up his ball.

Haley couldn't help but laugh a little when Chris had difficulties picking up the ball, it was as if the little golf ball was too heavy for him.

"Hole in one!" Chris proclaimed proudly.

"Shut up, Keller." Nathan warned. There were no rules to this game that said that Nathan couldn't pound his face into the ground.

Nathan was next and got a 2 on the relatively easy hole. Next, Haley made him proud by getting a hole in one as well.

"Nice one, Hales." Chris cheered. He quickly shut up when he saw the warning glance that Nathan was giving him.

The next few holes moved quickly with about the same scores. Chris miraculously got a hole in one on every hole, all of them being very strange shots like the first. Haley was behind Chris by 2 shots and Nathan was down by 6.

As they approached the last hole, and most difficult, Haley was having trouble believing that Chris was able to make such amazing shots without some kind of outside force. He lined his white ball up and hit it, and what do you know, another hole in one.

"Wooh! Chris Keller, champion!" Chris proclaimed loudly as he held his putter in the air. "Looks like I just got myself invited to the party."

Nathan started muttering a string of curse words under his breath as Haley realized something that she hadn't before. Chris had just hit a white ball into the hole, the one that he had when he first arrived was pink. She was sure it was pink because she despised that color and had noticed it immediately as he annoyingly bounced it up and down.

"Not so fast, Chris." She started. "Why did you switch balls before we started playing?"

Nathan looked up at Chris suspiciously. He hadn't noticed a change of golf balls but he trusted what Haley was saying.

"What are you talking about?" Chris laughed nervously.

Now Nathan knew that Chris had switched balls for some reason. "You heard her. Why did you switch balls?" He inquired.

"I wanted to use my lucky one." Chris defended himself as he uneasily watched Haley make her way over to the basket that collected the balls at the final hole and Nathan follow her.

"I knew it." Haley whispered after picking up the ball and noticing that it felt way to heavy to be a golf ball.

"What?" Nathan asked. He didn't understand until she took the ball over to the hole and attached it to the side of the metal covered hole.

"It's magnetic." She explained bitterly. They both looked to where Chris had been standing moments before, but he was gone. Nathan looked over to the street to see Chris driving his little golf cart into the open traffic and heading back towards the condo complex.

"asshole." Nathan said. That seemed to be the only word to describe Chris, and Nathan used it for that purpose quite often.

* * *

"Did you find anything?" Dan questioned gruffly over the phone.

"Well, she's leaving the miniature golf course with some guy, but I can't see who it is." Tom said into his cell phone as he hid in some bushes by the parking lot. He was sorry that he didn't have any better information for Dan because he was getting paid a lot of money to spy on this Haley girl.

"Did she say anything while she was there? Anything that could help us?" Dan barked. He was a little aggravated to be receiving Tom's call right now because he was on his way to the salon to get his chest waxed.

"She said something about a party." Tom offered.

"Ok… Tom, I'm going to need something better than that. So unless you have some worth wile information, don't call me!" Dan promptly hung up the phone.

Tom furrowed his brow and watched as Haley got into a large SUV with the guy he had seen her with all night. Who was he? Maybe he was the key to bringing her down?


	31. Chapter 31

Hey everyone, thanks so much for the reviews! It's pretty cool that no matter how many I get, new ones still make me so happy and keep me motivated. Anyway, I'm still accepting 'votes' for a new story vs. a sequel. :-) I hope you like this chapter…

_Disclaimer:_ Mark Schwahn owns One Tree Hill, not me.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 31**

"So then what happened?" Haley questioned as she brought a soapy rag up to the window that she was currently washing. This was officially their last week of cleaning duty and Whitey had piled on the chores.

"We were still down by two and there were 4 seconds on the clock." Nathan explained as he too wiped down a nearby window with soapy suds. "Tim threw it inbounds to me, I dribbled to the top of the arch, shot it, and won the game for us." He said proudly.

Haley smiled brightly over at him. She had no idea what half of what he had just said meant, but she was content with just seeing the smile that basketball brought to his face. "You seem to win a lot of games for the team." She laughed as she recalled the last 3 stories he had told and how all of them somehow had him making a game-winning shot.

"What can I say? I'm a talented guy." He joked as she slapped her wet rag onto him. "Hales! You got me all wet." He pouted.

"Hey Nathan, hey Haley." A familiar voice called from behind them. They both turned to see Peyton Sawyer heading towards them carrying…a baby?

"Peyton, is there something that you forgot to tell me?" Nathan joked as she came to a halt right in front of them.

"Um, no, I don't think so." She said, not catching onto his joke.

"I know you were mad about me not telling you about Haley right away, but I didn't expect you to keep something like this away from me." He said playfully as he motioned towards the baby that rested on her hip.

"Oh!" She laughed, finally understanding. "This is Jenny, Jake's daughter."

As if on cue, the little girl broke into a smile and started gurgling.

"Aw, she's precious." Haley said sweetly as she smoothed the baby's hair.

"I know, isn't she?" Peyton gushed as if the child were her own. "I'm babysitting while Jake is at work."

"How long is he working till today?" Nathan asked as he kept his eyes on the baby, studying it. He had never really had any experience with babies while he was growing up, and the closest he had ever gotten to one was when he was at a restaurant with his parents and the couple next to them had a little baby. It had wailed the whole time and Nathan decided then that he didn't like babies much.

"Um, about 4:30. Listen, I need to ask you for a big favor, Nate." Peyton looked at him and went on when she saw the encouraging look he gave her.

"So, I really need to go to the bathroom, like REALLY need to go, and I need you to watch her for a few minutes." Peyton said hopefully. She had been holding it in for at least 20 minutes and now she felt like she was going to burst. "I didn't want to leave her upstairs with Tim."

"Peyton, I don't know if-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Haley jumped in. "We'll watch her."

"Oh my gosh. Thank you so much! You guys are life savers!" Peyton exclaimed as she handed the little girl off to Haley and then turned around to head inside in search of a restroom.

Haley smiled as she watched her go. Was it possible that in the beginning of the summer she couldn't stand the girl? Now, 11 weeks later, they could be classified as friends. Sure, they had nowhere near the same bond as she and Brooke or she and Lucas had, but they had a friendship. Haley couldn't tell when the friendship first started to develop, probably when she was in the habit of sleeping at Nathan's every night and would get up and talk to Peyton in the morning before he woke up.

Thinking of this reminded Haley of how much she missed sleeping in Nathan's warm embrace. No wonder she hadn't slept amazingly well for what seemed like forever… She was brought out of her thoughts by the squirming child in her arms.

"Haley, it's moving." Nathan observed nervously as he watched Jenny wiggle around in Haley's arms.

Haley started laughing a little. "Nathan Scott, are you afraid of the baby?"

"No." Nathan said flatly. He wasn't scared of the baby… He would just rather Peyton put it back where she found it. "Why did you volunteer us to watch her?"

"Because Peyton had to go to the bathroom." Haley reminded him with a giggle as she turned the little girl around so that she was facing outwards at Nathan. "Hold her." She commanded.

"What? I don't think so." Nathan said seriously as he backed away slightly.

"Why not?" Haley pried, completely intrigued by his hidden phobia.

"It's all slobbery." He defended himself.

"First of all, she's a girl," Haley laughed. "And second of all, I don't buy for one second that you're afraid to hold the baby because she's slobbery."

"Fine, I don't want to hold her because my hands are slippery from cleaning the windows and I'll drop her." He smiled.

"Wrong again. You have to hold her." Haley demanded.

"No I don't."

"Yes you do." Haley pressed on as she reached out and the held the baby up to him.

"The things I do for you." He grunted as he accepted the little figure into his arms. Jenny instantly started to whimper as Nathan looked up at Haley with a panicked face.

"It's ok, just rock her back and forth." Haley commanded.

Nathan did as he was told and slowly rocked the little girl in his arms until she smiled up at him. "Aw, she loves me." Nathan said proudly as Haley giggled. The contrast between Nathan's large body and the tiny one in his arms was too adorable for words.

A few seconds after Nathan's proclamation of Jenny's love for him, she spit up all over the front of his shirt. "Damn it!" He said in a low voice.

"Nathan! Watch your language!" Haley chided as she took Jenny from him. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw the baby throw-up all over him.

"You think this is funny?" He tried to maintain a straight face to give off the annoyed effect, but a smile showed through anyway.

"Yeah, actually I do." Haley laughed. "Good job Jenny." She giggled as she cuddled the cooing baby into her arms.

Nathan watched her as she talked in a funny voice to the little girl. He had never seen her look so radiant. It must have been the maternal side that Jenny brought out in her. Come to think of it, Peyton even looked less emo when holding her too.

"Hey, guys, thanks so much." Peyton said graciously as she returned from the bathroom and approached them. "Oh my God! Nathan, did Jenny do that." She started laughing when she saw the mess on his shirt.

"Yeah." Nathan said simply. "She's trouble."

"Oh, no you're not. Are you Jenny? No, you're a good little girl. Yes you are…" Haley said sweetly to the baby as Nathan chuckled. Who was the baby? Jenny or Haley?

"Anyway, thanks again. Sorry we can't stay down here and hang out, but Jenny probably about ready for a bottle." Peyton said when she saw Jenny start to squirm a little in Haley's arms.

"Ok, bye Jenny. I'll see you later, Ok? Bye bye." Haley snuggled the baby close. She loved babies.

"Ok, Hales, give her back." Nathan laughed as Haley sadly handed Jenny back to Peyton and watched as they entered back into the condos.

"What are you smiling about?" She questioned when she saw him staring at her with a big smile on his face.

"Nothing."

"Yes you are. Nathan, tell me right now!" Haley demanded as she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to get too close because of the baby barf on his shirt.

"I was just smiling because you never told me that you were good with babies." He laughed.

"You didn't ask." She pointed out coyly as he kissed her on the nose.

"Nathan!" A voice called from above, causing them to look up and see Tim yelling down from the balcony. "I need to tell you something!"

"Ok." Nathan yelled back, slightly annoyed that Tim had ruined the moment.

Tim didn't say anything for about 20 seconds. He finally started talking when Nathan gave him the 'speed it up' sign. "Oh, I can't go to the marina tomorrow with you."

"What? Why?" There was no way that Nathan was going to go talk to Felix about the boat by himself. He didn't even want to go in the first place.

"I've got a hot date!" Tim called back as Nathan let out a long sigh.

"Ok." Tim went back inside with that and Nathan looked back down at Haley who's eyed were shining with excitement. "What?"

"Can I go with you tomorrow? Please? I want to see all the big expensive boats!" She giggled.

"Yeah, you can come. Are you sure you want to though? I just have to go work out some of the last details about the party. And the Felix guy is kind-of annoying"

"Yes, I want to go. I don't care if there's some weirdo named Felix there." She assured him.

"I was hoping you'd say that." He whispered before capturing her lips with his own. Maybe his visit to the marina wouldn't be that bad…

* * *

"Haley, can I talk to you for a minute?" Lucas said as soon as she walked into the condo from work.

"Yeah, sure. Um, what's up?" She asked as she set her key onto the kitchen counter and then made her way to the table that he was sitting at. Taking a seat right across from him, she took a chip out of the open bag on the table and put it in her mouth.

"It's about Nathan." Lucas said flatly.

"Lucas, if you're going to give me a long speech about how you don't like him, you can save it. I've heard it all before." Haley said a little bitterly. Lucas kept saying that her would try to give Nathan a chance, but it seemed like every chance he got, he made an insulting comment about his brother.

"No, Hales, Nathan my piranha." Lucas explained with a chuckle.

"Oh." Haley said sheepishly. She felt a little guilty for jumping to conclusions and freaking out on her best friend.

"Nathan died today." Lucas said sadly, referring to his piranha of course.

"Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry. I know how much you loved that fish." Haley soothed.

"Yeah, I flushed him this morning." Lucas turned to wipe a small tear from his eye. He had grown to love that piranha, even if it did try to eat him from time to time. "I'm fine, really. Brooke offered to go get me a new one, she's been really nice to me ever since I got her that new scrunchy for her ¾ birthday, but I told her that no piranha would ever be able to take Nathan's place."

"It'll be ok, Lucas. Brooke and I are both here to help you through this." Haley reassured him.

"Thanks. But I also wanted to say something about Nathan." He responded quietly.

"What, like a eulogy? If that will help, then-"

"No, I mean Nathan, my brother, Nathan." Lucas clarified.

"Oh. I told you that naming the fish Nathan was a bad idea!" She said playfully in an attempt to lighten the mood.

"Brooke told me about the party next week, and I just wanted to tell you that we will both be there."

"Really? Thanks Luke, this means a lot to me." Haley said as she got up and hugged her friend.

"I'm not saying that I like the guy or anything." Lucas admitted as he hugged her back.

"I know, it just means a lot to me that you're willing to overlook your differences, even if it is only for one night."

"You're welcome." Lucas smiled.

"That reminds me, I'm going down the marina with Nathan after work tomorrow, so, don't wait for me to have dinner." Haley said as she pulled away and ate another chip.

"Ok, me and Brooke already have plans anyway." He shrugged.

"Brooke and I." Haley corrected him with a laugh.


	32. Chapter 32

Hey, sorry I didn't get a chance to update last night, I've been getting very busy lately. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, it means a lot to me. As of right now, I'm leaning more towards writing a sequal (a short one, or shorter than this one at least.) and then starting a new one after that... Enjoy chapter 32!

_Disclaimer:_ I don't own One Tree Hill.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 32**

"This is nice." Haley said as she and Nathan pulled into the parking lot at the marina.

"Yeah, it's a pretty nice place." Nathan confirmed as he parked the car.

Haley put her sunglasses on as she got out of the car. Nathan grabbed her hand as they met in front of the car and they walked towards the small building which held Felix's office.

As Nathan opened the door, a bell was heard and Felix popped his head up from behind the desk. "Nate, nice to see you again." He greeted cheerfully as he extended his hand.

"It's still Nathan." Nathan corrected as he shook Felix's outstretched hand.

"Well, well, well, who do we have here?" Felix asked with a cocky smirk as he turned his attention to Haley.

"Haley James." She responded as she reached out to shake his hand. Nathan visible stiffened when Felix brought her hand to his lips and kissed it softly. _Maybe I was wrong, _Nathan thought, _Felix is way more annoying than Chris._

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Haley." Felix smiled, still holding onto her hand.

"Are you going to take us to the boat, or what?" Nathan asked impatiently as he gently pulled Haley's hand away from Felix's.

"Yeah, right this way." Felix came out from behind the desk and motioned for them to follow. "We cleaned it about a week ago, so right now it's at dock 2." He said as he opened the door and stepped outside into the hot summer air. The contrast of the ice cold air inside the office and the warm and sticky air of the outdoors sent a small shiver up Haley's spine. Nathan saw this and chuckled as he draped an arm over her shoulder, pulling her closer to him.

Felix walked in front of them, leading them to dock 2. He promptly stopped when he heard a giggle behind him and turned around to see Haley snuggled close to Nathan as they walked. "Wait, your Nate's girlfriend?" He asked with a smile.

"Um, yeah." Haley answered slowly.

"Oh. I guess the reason that I didn't realize that before was because I didn't know that he could score such a hottie." Felix smirked.

Haley reached up to touch Nathan's arm that was hanging over her shoulder in an attempt to cool the temper that she knew must be boiling inside of him. Nathan relaxed a little from Haley's touch and sent Felix an icy glare. "Funny." He said sarcastically.

"What? I'm just stating the obvious." Felix shrugged as he turned around and started walking again.

"What's his problem?" Haley whispered into Nathan's ear with a giggle.

"Who knows." Nathan smiled as he turned his head a little to leave a small peck on her lips. She had a way of making him calm down better than anyone he had ever met. Just moments ago he had been ready to kick Felix's ass for that blatant insult, but after just feeling Haley's small soft hand on his arm, he didn't think that Felix's remark was that important anymore.

"Here she is." Felix beamed as he pointed to the large yacht in front of them.

"Wow, you never told me it was so gorgeous." Haley accused light-heartedly as she turned to her boyfriend.

"You didn't ask." Nathan defended himself as she stepped closer and he put his hands on her hips.

"Do you want a tour, Haley?" Felix said loudly, ruining the moment.

"Yeah, that would be great." She said enthusiastically. She had never been on a boat as big as this one. In fact, she had never been on a boat half as big as this one.

"Right this way." He commanded as he opened the gate to the ramp that led up to the boat.

Nathan walked behind Haley, but as soon as she was on the ramp, Felix cut in between them. _Asshole,_ Nathan thought.

"Turn to your left." Felix said as he placed a hand on Haley shoulder to better guide her into the sitting area of the yacht.

Nathan noticed the hand and promptly hit Felix on the side of the head. There was no way that this loser was going to put his hand on Haley's shoulder.

"Dude, what was that for?" Felix whined as he pressed a hand to his temple and turned to face Nathan.

Haley stopped in the doorway of the sitting room and bar area to watch the exchange curiously. She had never really seen Nathan act jealous like this before, and it was actually kind of hot.

"Keep your hands off my girlfriend." Nathan warned as he stepped around Felix and met Haley in the doorway. "Come here." He whispered as he pulled her inside and shut the door behind them.

"What the hell? Let me in!" Felix called from the other side as he heard the door lock.

Haley giggled when she heard Felix banging on the door. "Smooth." She said as Nathan walked over to the bar.

"Do you want something?" He asked as he opened the mini fridge. "It looks like they have lemonade and… tomato juice?"

"Lemonade." She said gratefully. Who drinks tomato juice?

He pulled out two cans of lemonade and set them on the bar. Before he could open them, he looked up to see her staring at him with a seductive smile. "What?" He laughed.

"Come here." She giggled as he willingly walked over to her, smirking when she put her arms around his neck. Before he could say anything, she attached her lips to his in a fiery kiss.

"Ok…not that I'm complaining… but what's this for?" He asked in between kisses as he tightened his grip around her waist.

"For getting me away from that Felix guy." She joked. "He's just jealous of you because so you're so much hotter than him."

With that, Nathan laughed and lifted her up and pinning her against the wall, their lips never parting. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist as he lowered his kisses to her neck. "I think he was jealous because I have you."

Haley could barely hear his words as his mouth traveled along her neck and then back up to her mouth. Her hands ran through his short dark hair as she reached her tongue into his mouth.

His tongue entered hers as well, exploring the crevices that he now knew so well. He could feel himself starting to lose control and decided that he needed to stop…but maybe after a few more kisses.

All of a sudden, a loud pounding was heard at the door and then a long string of cuss words followed it. "Will you guys open the door before I break my foot trying to kick it down!" Felix yelled.

Haley looked up into Nathan's eyes and saw that they were a shade or two darker than normal. She smiled as she left a soft kiss on his forehead. "Open it."

"Do I have to?" He whispered as he rested his head in the crook of her neck. He still couldn't believe the power that she had over him. Just a few seconds ago, he was intoxicated by her, he never wanted to let her go.

Haley nodded before placing a warm kiss on his ear. He sighed and backed up from the wall, placing her gently on the ground. _Felix better have something pretty damn important to say…_

Haley ran a hand through her hair in order to tame it a little and then ran the same hand over her shirt to smooth out the wrinkles. Nathan unlocked the door and opened it with a scowl on his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I interrupting something?" Felix smirked. "I was wondering if you guys want to see the patio upstairs?"

"Um, sure." Haley responded sweetly as she grabbed Nathan's hand and followed Felix out onto the open deck and watched as he climbed up a very steep staircase that could probably classify as a ladder. She turned around to face Nathan with big eyes. "I can't go up there."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid of heights and those steps are **way** too steep to be safe." She said as she tried to walk around him.

He quickly grabbed her arms and brought her back in front of him. "Hales, you made me hold the baby." He reminded her. "Come on, I'll be right behind you."

"How will that help? That only means that if I fall, you'll fall too." She pointed out.

"Or it means that I'll catch you."

"Are you guys coming?" Felix called from the top.

"Yeah." Nathan called back. "Come on. You can do it." He encouraged. She bit her lip and climbed onto the "stairs", throwing one last questioning look at Nathan. "I've got you." He assured her as she started to climb.

* * *

"Lucas!" Brooke called as she entered the condo from her afternoon sunbathing on the beach.

"Yeah, Brooke, I'm in here." Lucas responded from his bedroom.

"There you are." Brooke smiled as she walked into his room and set her beach bag down on his bed. "You are never going to believe what happened at the beach today."

"Try me." He laughed as he folded some swim trunks and put them into the top drawer of his dresser.

"Ok, there was this guy there who stepped on a crab and it hooked onto his toe!" Brooke laughed excitedly.

Lucas stared at her, wondering why she thought it was funny.

"Broody, don't you get it? That's the same thing that happened to you. I told you that crabs attack people all the time!" She said triumphantly.

Lucas did chuckle a little now, she had told him that in an attempt to make him feel better right after the incident at the beginning of the summer.

"I missed you while I was down there though." She pouted. "I thought you said you were going to try to meet me?"

"I'm sorry, I got sidetracked cleaning my room after I said goodbye to Haley." Lucas admitted.

"Luke, I know how hard it is for you to see Haley going out with Nathan. But she cares about him, and he seems to care about her, and I just wanted to tell you that I'm really proud of you for supporting her and going to the party this weekend."

Lucas smiled as he picked up one of his shirts off the floor, revealing a light pink bra underneath. "Brooke, why do I always find your underwear in my room?"

"Are you complaining?" She laughed as he inched closer to her.

"I love you." He whispered, his mouth just inches from hers.

"I love you too." She assure him as he pressed his lips to hers and they fell back against the bed.


	33. Chapter 33

Hello everyone. Again, thanks for the reviews. There are only about 2 - 4 chapters left after this one…just wanted to let you know. :-) Enjoy the chapter and please review!

_Disclaimer:_ I will never own One Tree Hill. Ever.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 33**

"Are you coming tonight with Lucas and Brooke, or with me?" Nathan asked as he and Haley walked back up to their condos from Whitey's office. They were going home tomorrow and had wanted to say goodbye to the man that they had both grown to love over the course of the summer.

Haley had cried when she hugged Whitey and said her goodbyes. Whitey had been almost like a surrogate father to her all summer, and now she was leaving, uncertain to whether or not she would ever see him again. After her, Nathan shook Whitey's hand. He would never admit to it, but deep down he knew that he would miss the old man. Whitey had been more of a father to him then Dan ever would be.

"What time did you say you were going?" Haley asked as they reached the top of the stairs.

"Um, in about an hour." Nathan smiled. He knew that there was no way Haley would be ready in an hour. "Tim and I have to stop and get more snacks, then we're heading over."

"Ok, well, I'm going with Lucas and Brooke then." She laughed. The day had finally arrived for the yacht party and Haley was beyond excited. She had never been in such a nice boat, she had never even been on a boat in the ocean before.

"That's fine, just tell them to hurry up because I'll be going crazy there without you." He whispered as he pulled her close and rested his forehead on hers.

"Well, I definitely don't want you to go crazy." She joked as she gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I'll tell them that we need to leave ASAP."

"Thanks." He responded sweetly as they stopped in front of her door. "I'll see you later."

"You too." She smiled as he leaned down and kissed her on the forehead before continuing on to his own condo.

Haley dug through her purse and pulled out the key for condo number 9. It was weird to use this key because for three fourths of the summer she had used the master key that Whitey gave her that opened all of the doors. That key had been returned when they said their goodbyes.

As she opened the door to the condo, she felt an overwhelming sense of sadness come upon her. Tomorrow was going to be the last day that she would probably ever see this condo. Summer would be over, and she would have to go back to attending Tree Hill high and working at Karen's.

_At least I'll be a senior, _She thought in an attempt to cheer herself up. _And I'll have Nathan._ The last thought brought a smile to her face. It was definitely going to be interesting to see the reaction of the rest of the school to their relationship. She was sure that it would come as a surprise to them that Nathan Scott, king of the school, would even look twice at Haley James, the average tutor girl.

"Haley, there you are! I need your help!" Brooke said frantically as she ran up and grabbed Haley's hand, dragging her into the bedroom that they supposedly shared. Haley had been sleeping in that room alone ever since Brooke and Lucas got together, so technically, it was her room.

"What is it Brooke?" Haley asked worriedly. Whatever it was sounded important. If there was blood involved, she was out. The one thing that Haley James could not do was blood. Sure, a paper cut here and there was ok, but massive amounts of blood, or anything that's supposed to stay inside the body for that matter, was just too much.

"I have a really big problem." Brooke said seriously. She was definitely going to need her friend's help for this one.

_Problem?_ That seemed to rule out the possibility of any type of injury… "Oh my God, Brooke, please tell me you're not pregnant." Haley gasped.

"God no!" Brooke sounded almost offended. "What do you think I am? A slut?"

Haley gave Brooke a look to ask if she really wanted her to answer that question.

"Ok, well, I was a slut. But not anymore. And I am totally not pregnant." She assured her friend.

"Good. So what's this dire dilemma?" Haley sat down on the bed and watched Brooke pace the floor.

"My shirt, that I was going to wear to the party tonight, it kind of shrunk." Brooke was almost ready to cry. She had spent a whole day shopping specifically for the perfect shirt to wear to this party. Now it was ruined.

"It shrunk? How did that happen?" Haley questioned. Shirts don't normally shrink if you follow the directions of how to wash them.

"I don't know." Brooke dug through the closet until she found the shirt that was now small enough to fit on a 10 year old. "I washed it in hot water, like I wash all my clothes, and then I put it in the dryer on extra heat because I like it when my clothes are warm when I put them on." She explained. "None of my clothes have ever shrunk before."

Haley fingered the blouse until she came to the small tag that she was looking for. "Brooke, didn't you even look at the tag? It says wash in cold and air dry."

"I'm sorry! I've never had to do my own laundry before this summer!" Brooke yelled in her own defense. "Now I have nothing to wear."

"Oh please, you own like every top in American Eagle. I'm sure you have something." Haley said as she joined her friend at the closet and started going through clothes.

"But none of them are perfect like this one was!" Brooke sobbed.

Haley looked at her and tried to stifle a small laugh. _It must be that time of the month._

"Tutor Girl, don't you dare laugh at me!" Brooke whined as she used a tissue to wipe away the tears that were falling down her face. Just then, the phone rang and Brooke jumped to pick it up. "Who are you and what do you want?"

"Hello to you too, Cheery." Lucas laughed. What put her in such a bad mood?

"Lucas, thank the Lord. Where are you? We need to leave in like 3 hours!" Brooke exclaimed. She hadn't thought of the fact that Lucas didn't need 3 hours to get ready like she did.

"I'm at the mall right now. I needed to get a new pair of shoes for the party."

Then, a light bulb went off in Brooke's head as Haley watched her curiously. Brooke's face had turned happy again whereas just a few seconds ago, tears were practically falling out of her eyes. "Broody, I need you to do me a favor." She said sweetly.

"This is going to cost a lot isn't it?" Lucas laughed as he left Payless with his bargain shoes.

"Well…yes." Brooke smiled although she knew Lucas couldn't see it. "Go into Aéropostale and buy the shirt that is on the first mannequin to your left. It's yellow. I need a medium." She instructed.

"Brooke, Aéropostale is all the way on the other side of the mall!" Lucas complained.

"Broody, if you don't do this one little thing for me, so help me I will make you go this party by yourself and you will wake up **very** alone tomorrow." Brooke warned.

"Fine, I got it. The yellow one, size medium, hurry up." Lucas laughed.

"Thanks, love ya!" Brooke hung up and excitedly clapped her hands together. "Looks like I get to wear my shirt after all!"

"See? I told you that everything would be fine." Haley smiled as she patted Brooke on the shoulder. "I'm going to hop into the shower."

"Ok…Wait!" Haley took off running into the bathroom and closed the door just as Brooke slammed into it. "Haley James! You knew I wanted to take a shower first!"

"Sorry, Brooke, you snooze you lose." Haley laughed as she turned on the hot water.

"Just hurry your little ass up." Brooke yelled playfully through the door.

* * *

"So, what all do you think we need?" Tim asked as he and Nathan walked into Wal-Mart.

"It's your party, Tim." Nathan reminded him. "What do you want?"

"Beer." Tim said honestly before grabbing a cart and directing it towards the refrigerated section. He filled the cart to the top with beer cans.

"Tim, do you seriously think that they are going to let you buy all that?" Nathan laughed.

"Yeah. My hot date from the other night works here." Tim shrugged.

"Wait, the girl you bailed on me for works here?"

"Yeah, she'll totally let me slide." Tim winked. "I showed her a good time if you know what I'm sayin'."

"So all you're getting is beer?" Nathan questioned incredulously.

Tim nodded his head as if Nathan should have already known that answer. With that, Nathan grabbed a box of 12 cans of lemonade and added it to the cart.

"Dude, we don't need that stuff. No one's going to drink it." Tim laughed as he pointed to the lemonade.

"Haley will." Nathan pointed out, slightly put off by Tim's inconsiderate nature. "And she told me that Brooke doesn't like beer either."

"My bad. 2 people will drink the lemonade." Tim said as he dramatically threw his hands in the air. "What do you think, pretzels or chips?"

"Both." Nathan replied as he added a bag of Smartfood to the cart along with some pretzels and Lays Wavy potato chips.

"Nate, why the hell do we have to buy Smartfood popcorn?" Tim whined.

"Haley likes it more than pretzels and potato chips." Nathan explained.

"Does it make you smarter?" Tim asked with a confused look on his face. "I mean, is that why they call it 'smart' 'food'?"

"You're kidding, right?" Nathan laughed. Did Tim seriously just ask that question?

"Yeah, man, I was totally kidding." Tim laughed nervously. They grabbed a few more things that they needed for the party and then headed to the check out line.

"Tim, don't forget that we have to go to that girl you went out with." Nathan reminded him as they got into one of the lines.

"I know. This is her register." Tim assured him as they moved up in the line and came face to face with a large girl with a weird assortment of facial hair above her lip. "Hey Ima, what's up?" Tim winked.

Nathan quickly looked at Tim to see if this was really the girl that he had gone out with. First of all, looking at her nametag, Nathan noticed that her name was 'Ima Pigie', second of all, she had a mustache!

"Oh, I'm good Timmy." Ima snorted. She rung them up and as Tim predicted, she did not card him for buying a total of 20 packs of 24 cans of beer.

After they were safely out of Ima's earshot, Nathan turned to Tim. "She was your 'hot date'?"

"Yeah." He said evenly, not even realizing that his date looked like an elf.

* * *

"Hey, you're here." Nathan said excitedly a few hours later as he pulled his girlfriend into a hug.

"Yeah, we made it." Haley smiled as she looked back at Brooke and Lucas who were standing behind her. Both were staring at the magnificent boat in front of them. "You guys go ahead; I'll catch up in a few minutes."

Lucas and Brooke obeyed and walked past them and onto the yacht that was filled with loud pop music, nodding in acknowledgement to Nathan as he did the same.

"You're here earlier than I expected." He said as he left a soft kiss on her lips.

"I did my best to hurry them up." Haley smiled.

"She's heading onto the boat." Tom whispered into his phone when he watched Haley walk onto the yacht. "She's with the guy from the miniature golf place, but his back is to me and I can't see who it is."

"That's ok, it doesn't matter." Dan assured him with an evil laugh. "The plan is going to work perfectly. You're in position aren't you?" Sometimes Dan wondered how he himself could be so evil. He blamed it on his lapse in the taking of the medication that his psychiatrist had prescribed.

"No, but I will be in a minute." Tom left his hiding spot behind a few cars and ran over to a small motor boat with a large crate in it. "Ok, I'm in position."

"And what time does the boat leave? Did you find out?" Dan asked impatiently. It was so hard to find good help these days.

"Yeah, uh, it is set to leave in a half an hour."

"Excellent. Be ready, I'll call you when it's time." Dan hung up the phone to see Deb staring at him. "What do you want?"

"Who was that?" She inquired. It sounded like Dan was up to something, something bad no doubt.

"None of your business. If I can't get any privacy in my own home, then I'm going to my office." Dan spat out as he hurriedly made his way to the garage, got into his car, and took off for Dan Scott Motors. There was no way that he would let Deb ruin this, his son's only chance at happiness, by messing up his perfect plan. He was so close to finally getting the revenge that Nathan deserved…


	34. Chapter 34

Hey guys, thank you so much for the reviews. I was super excited to write this chapter and the next one…I hope you enjoy!!!

_Disclaimer:_ One Tree Hill…not mine.

_Summary:_ _Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 34**

"Do you want something to drink?" Nathan asked as he guided Haley through the crowd with his hand on her lower back.

It was so loud with all of the people and the booming sound of 'This is Why I'm Hot' by Mims through the loud speakers, that Haley almost couldn't hear what he had said. "Is there anything besides beer?" She said hopefully.

He smiled down at her when they reached the bar and he pulled out a can of lemonade. "I got these just for you."

"You are so sweet." She gushed as she took the lemonade from his hand.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

Both Nathan and Haley looked up, praying that they had heard wrong, that the person they thought was not standing right behind them. It didn't work, because it was him.

"What are you doing here, Chris?" Nathan asked, more than a little annoyed by his uninvited appearance.

"I wanted to come to the party." He explained as he reached around Haley and grabbed a can of beer off of the bar.

"How did you even get on here? I thought you didn't have an invitation?" Haley questioned. It was very peculiar that Chris was able to get on the boat at all.

"Tim let me in." Chris defended himself against both Haley and Nathan's hostility.

"Ok, well now _I'm_ telling you to leave." Nathan deadpanned.

"Oh, come on man. You can't have a party without the Keller!" Chris exclaimed with a laugh.

"I can, and I will. I want you to go." Nathan said simply. If Chris didn't get off this boat soon, Nathan was sure that he's lose his temper at one point or another and throw him over the edge into the ocean. _Actually, that's not a bad idea._

"Fine, dude, I'm leaving." Chris huffed. Just as he was approaching the door that led out of the indoor bar and sitting area, a loud whistle was heard, signaling the boat's departure from the dock. "Oh, too late." Chris laughed before turning the corner and climbing up the steep stairs to the patio.

"Asshole." Nathan muttered.

As Chris arrived upstairs on the patio, a guy carrying a large keg of alcohol slammed right into him, sending the alcohol spilling out all over the floor.

"Shit. Watch it loser." The guy mumbled as he left the keg on its side and continued past Chris.

"You're the one who spilled the keg all over the floor!" Chris retorted as he jovially made his way towards the spot where two girls were sitting. "What's up ladies? Did you know that I once met Michael Jackson?"

"Ew, that's weird." The red haired one exclaimed.

"I meant Michael Jordan." Chris clarified.

"Lame." The black haired one huffed in an annoyed tone.

"Did I say Michael Jordan? I meant James Denton, the guy that plays Mike on Desperate Housewives."

"Really?" The red head said, turning to face him with sudden interest.

"Chris is such a loser." Brooke laughed as she watched him from the other side of the patio.

"Yeah, I know." Lucas mumbled.

* * *

"Hey guys." Peyton greeted as she walked up to Nathan and Haley with a brown haired guy behind her. "Haley, have you met Jake?"

"No, I haven't." She responded with a smile as she set her lemonade behind Nathan.

"Well then, Haley, this is my boyfriend Jake, and Jake, this is my friend Haley." Peyton said as she motioned back and forth between the two. "Haley is Nathan's girlfriend." She added.

"Hey," Jake said cheerfully as he shook Haley's hand.

"Hey Jake. How's it going?" Nathan asked when Jake moved on to him and they shared a man-hug. Nathan had met Jake a few weeks ago, but this was Haley's first time seeing the guy that Peyton spent almost 24/7 with.

"Pretty good." Jake responded with a grin as he wrapped his arm around Peyton's waist.

"How's Jenny doing?" Haley asked and watched as Jake's whole face lit up. It was obvious that that little girl was his life.

"She's great. She's getting so big." He beamed.

"Yeah, I got to see her when Peyton was babysitting about a week ago. She's a doll." Haley smiled.

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard in the distance, but not too far off. It sounded like fireworks or something, but none could be seen in the sky.

"What the hell was that?" Nathan asked as he instinctively put his arm around Haley's shoulder, pulling her slightly closer to him.

"It was probably one of Tim's idiotic friends." Peyton said dully. Tim's friends sometimes seemed so stupid that she could see them jumping off of a bridge if someone told them that they would be able to fly.

"Yeah." Nathan agreed as he dismissed the sound and kissed Haley lightly on the top of the head.

* * *

"Tom! What did you just do? I heard that!" Dan yelled through the Phone that Tom had on speaker in his little motorboat.

"Sorry, Dan, one of the fireworks went off, but it fell into the water before it exploded, don't worry." Tom assured him.

"I cannot believe that I am paying you a fortune to handle this for me and you are still screwing it up!" Dan scolded through gritted teeth. "Do you still have the ones we need left?"

"Yeah, I got them." Tom confirmed as he opened the lid of the crate again and peered inside. The plan was to shoot the fireworks off right above the boat. If the sound of fireworks exploding over someone's head didn't scare them, nothing would. Tom had suggested just aiming the fireworks _at_ the boat, but no, Dan always had to have his way. Dan's idea was dumb anyway."I still don't understand how scaring this chick for like a millisecond is going to help you get your revenge." He said in a confused tone.

"Ugh." Dan sighed. He definitely should have hired the guy from Chuck-e-Cheese instead of Tom. "I called her earlier to give her a warning, but she didn't answer so I left it on her voicemail. This will scare her to death because what do fireworks sound like, Tom?"

"Gunshots? Explosions?" Tom guessed.

"Exactly, and after that anonymous threat, an explosion is exactly what she is going to think it is." Dan smiled at his own genius.

"I still don't get it. Why don't we just actually blow the boat up?"

"Because, imbecile, we don't want to go to jail for murder. Now call me once the plan has been carried out." Dan said gruffly before hanging up.

* * *

"The stars are beautiful tonight." Haley said as she leaned against the railing of the boat and peered out into the dark night sky. Timbuland's _Give it to Me_ was playing loudly in the background as Nathan slipped his arms around her waist and set his chin on her shoulder.

"Yeah, we can't see all these back in Tree Hill." He whispered as he too stared out at the thousands of shining stars. He was just starting to realize that tonight was his last night here, his last night away from his parents. "At least we made it the rest of the summer without my Dad being a jackass."

"About your Dad, he called the condo today." Haley said simply.

"What? What did he say?" Nathan questioned as he pulled away and turned her around gently to face him.

"I don't know, I didn't answer it." Haley shrugged, wondering why he was taking this insignificant information so seriously.

"Why?" Nathan asked.

"Because you told me to get here as fast as possible, and when I saw that it was your house on the caller ID, I figured it could wait." She laughed. "I don't get it, are you mad at me?" She asked incredulously.

"No…I just, why didn't you tell me?" Nathan said coolly. Didn't she realize that if Dan was taking the time to call her, that it had to foreshadow something bad?

"I didn't think it was important." She said in an equally cool tone.

"Who told you that it wouldn't be important? Lucas?" Nathan demanded. He didn't mean to bring Lucas into the conversation and he instantly regretted it when he saw the hurt in her eyes.

"Lucas has nothing to do with this." Haley said, trying hard to conceal her anger but not doing a great job at it.

"Are you sure, because ever since we got together he's done nothing but try and get in the way!" Nathan honestly didn't mean to say that, he knew that that wasn't true at all. Things just kept slipping out of his mouth, even when he didn't mean them, due to his anger. He was angry at Dan. Dan couldn't just leave him alone and he was unknowingly letting his anger out on Haley…and Lucas.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Haley yelled back.

Before Nathan could answer her question, a loud bang was heard overhead, followed by another, and another, and another. People started screaming and running around in all different directions covering their heads, not knowing what the sound was. Nathan instinctively pulled Haley down to the floor next to him and covered her head.

A few moments later, bright lights were seen falling all over the deck of the boat. _It was just fireworks,_ Nathan thought to himself and sighed in relief. He looked down at Haley whose eyes were also filled with relief in the place of fear. Then they looked around and noticed that everyone seemed to be more frantic now than right after hearing the noises in the first place.

"What the hell?" Nathan questioned aloud, grabbing onto Haley's hand. Shouldn't these people be continuing with the party? It was just dumb fireworks that Tim probably shot off…

"Nathan! Come here!" Tim yelled frantically from the bottom of the 'stairs' that led to the upstairs patio. His eyes were transfixed on the horrendous sight above him.

* * *

"Did it work?" Dan asked eagerly after picking up his phone and hearing Tom's annoying voice on the other end.

"Well, yes, but something happened…something unexpected." Tom stuttered.

"Out with it Tom! What happened?" Dan yelled. He was sitting safely inside of Dan Scott Motors right now so he didn't have to worry about anyone hearing him.

"Well…um…"

"Tom, if you don't tell me right now, I will not pay you a single cent for your services." Dan warned loudly.

"The boat caught on fire." Tom replied nervously as he looked out at the large yacht. The entire upstairs was engulfed in flames…


	35. Chapter 35

Hello everyone, your reviews are awesome! I'm so glad that you like to read this story as much as I like to write it. :-) Enjoy chapter 25...

_Disclaimer:_ My idea belongs to me, but not One Tree Hill.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 25**

"Nathan! Come here!" Tim yelled frantically from the bottom of the 'stairs' that led to the upstairs patio. His eyes were transfixed on the horrendous sight above him.

Groaning a little inwardly, Nathan pulled Haley along with him until they reached Tim. He knew that she probably didn't want to go anywhere with him right now after the way he'd treated her just moments before, but everyone on the boat was acting like the ship was sinking or something, and he didn't want to leave her alone. "What?"

Tim's only response was to point to the top of the stairs where large orange and yellow flames were billowing over the side.

"Oh my God!" Haley screamed when she saw the fire that was overwhelming the entire upstairs.

"How the hell did that happen?!" Nathan yelled in disbelief. "Is anyone up there?"

Tim shrugged his shoulders in response, never taking his eyes off of the smoldering flames above him.

"Lucas! Brooke!" Haley shrieked as she turned around searching the crowd for them. "Lucas!" Tears were now streaming down her face, the last time she had seen them was upstairs on the balcony.

Nathan quickly took her into his arms and held her close. "Hales, are they up there?" He questioned frantically as he ran a hand through her long dirty-blond hair.

"I don't know!" She cried. "The last time I saw them they were…Oh God!" She tore away from his embrace and looked around again in search of her friends. All she saw were scared teenagers like herself, many crying, many screaming, and many cussing. "I have to find them!"

"Tim, go find Felix." Nathan ordered. Felix had been driving the boat and was probably still in the front by the wheel. "And while you're at it, find Peyton and make sure she's ok." He ordered right before taking off after Haley into the sitting room.

"Brooke! Lucas!" She shouted frantically above the loud drone of the music that was still playing. "Please answer me!" Her face was stained with tears as she beat on the bathroom door. If either of them was not ok, she didn't know how she'd live.

"Hales, come on, we can't stay in here for long." Nathan stated. It already felt at least 10 degrees warmer in there from the heat of the fire that was right above them. "We've got to get out of here."

"No, I have to find Lucas and Brooke." She cried, beating on the door some more. "Whoever is in here better open up the door right now!"

At her command, the door opened, revealing none other than Chris Keller. "Hey, I guess you just couldn't resist anymore, huh?" He joked, obviously not knowing that the roof over their heads was on fire.

"Chris, get out of here, the boat's on fire." Nathan warned as he ran to catch up to Haley who had already made her way to the next closed door, the one that led out to a deck on the front.

Chris's eyes went wide. He was too young to die!

"Haley!" Nathan called as she opened the door and screamed. When she screamed, he felt his heart drop. What just happened? was she hurt? _Please God, don't let her be hurt._

Nathan ran to the door and finally let out a breath that he didn't realize he was holding when he saw her crying as she hugged both Brooke and Lucas. "God, Haley, please don't do that again." He pleaded in a low voice as he walked over towards them.

"Sorry." She said through tears as she hugged him. She felt really bad about screaming when she saw how pale his face was.

"Nathan, is the boat really on fire?" Lucas asked skeptically.

"Yeah." Nathan responded, not understanding how Lucas could not know…then he saw the hickey on Lucas's neck… _So that's why they didn't know._

"Oh my God!" Brooke shrieked. "The boat's on fire!"

"We've got to get off of here." Lucas said matter-of-factly as he walked past Nathan and Haley, leading Brooke back into the bar area. "Come on Haley! You too Nathan!"

Haley followed, with Nathan close behind her, until the all reached the outdoors once again and looked up at the massive fire that surprisingly hadn't seemed to grow at all in the past few minutes.

"Nathan!" Tim called as he approached the group. "I found Peyton and Jake, they're fine, and Felix is on the phone with the police right now."

"Is someone talking about me?" Felix asked cockily as he came up behind Nathan.

"Yeah, do you want to tell us why you're making jokes when the damn boat's on fire?" Nathan accused harshly. He really didn't find anything funny about this situation.

"Relax, man. This baby's flame retardant." Felix smiled.

"Um, you might want to take a second look, because the entire top half of the boat is on fire!" Lucas spat back angrily. How could this guy, whatever his name was, say that the boat was fire resistant when it was clearly on fire?!

"Oh, it's just burning the alcohol that was spilled up there." Felix responded simply as he opened up a beer for himself. The rest of the group looked at him in disbelief.

"Well how much alcohol could possibly have spilled up there?" Haley questioned aloud.

"Actually, that would be a whole keg." Chris said as he popped his head into their little circle.

"What do you know about this, Keller?" Nathan asked, narrowing his eyes at the annoying being across from him.

"Well, I was up there when some idiot spilled the keg." Chris shrugged.

They were brought out of their conversation when a large gust of wind sent the heat from the fire directly at them. "Ok, I don't care if this boat is flame resistant or whatever, we need to get off." Nathan said.

"Ok, well, there's an emergency boat on here that will probably hold almost all of us." Felix said as he turned around and opened a small compartment on the side of the boat, pulling out a very condensed looking bag.

"That boat is going to hold almost all of us?" Brooke laughed.

"Yep." Felix walked over to the gate that the ramp was supposed to be connected to, opened it, and watched as the bag inflated itself into a raft of a fairly decent size. "See?"

At once, people started making a mad dash for the boat, no one wanted to be left on the flaming yacht.

"Brooke, get on the boat." Lucas commanded as he drug her to the front of the line. She looked at him through large sad eyes.

"No, I'm not going without you."

"Brooke, if you don't get on that boat so help me you will drive home tomorrow by yourself and wake up **very** alone." He threatened, mimicking her warning from earlier.

"I love you." She kissed him before being pushed onto the boat by the ongoing stampede of people trying to get on.

"I have to be on it since I'm the only one who can drive it." Felix rationalized as he pushed to the front and plopped onto the raft.

"Haley, you need to get on that boat." Nathan said softly as he led her towards the gate.

"What? No, I don't want to." She protested, a fresh batch of tears rushing to her eyes.

"Haley, please get on the boat." Nathan pleaded.

"Why do you think you can just boss me around like this? First it's 'you have to tell me every time you get a phone call from my dad' and now it's 'get on the boat'. Why do you do that?!" She demanded, momentarily forgetting that they were standing on a burning boat.

"Why? God, Haley! Because I love you!" He shouted out, no anger was evident in his voice, just desperation.

"What?" She asked softly as she looked up into his eyes, a smile slowly starting to take over her face.

"I...I love you, more than you could ever know. I can't lose you, which is why you're getting on that damn boat." He concluded as he made a move to grab her hand to guide her to the raft, but she swiftly pulled it away, still staring at him with a large smile. "What?" He almost yelled. Didn't she remember that the boat was on fire?

"You love me?" She asked with a soft voice and a graceful grin on her face. She felt like her insides were melting with happiness. The man she loved, loved her back!

"Yes." He assured her as he rested his forehead against hers.

"Well, I love you more." She said before bringing his face down to hers in a powerful and passionate kiss. Nathan felt a wave of joy crash over him upon hearing those words. He couldn't remember a time where he had felt so amazing.

"I don't think so." He said playfully as he pulled her in for another kiss.

They were pulled out of their blissful moment by Felix's harsh voice. "We only have room for one or two more!" He shouted.

"You're getting on that boat." Nathan said sternly, purposely ignoring the tears that were starting to cloud her eyes. He couldn't bare to see her cry.

"But I want to stay here with you." She whispered as she clung to him, her arms around his waist.

"You can't." He responded huskily, taking her hands in his.

"Chris Keller can't swim, so I need to be on the boat." Chris yelled dramatically as he made a mad dash for the last 1 and a ½ spots on the boat.

"The hell you do." Nathan grabbed onto the back of Chris's shirt, keeping him from getting onto the raft. Haley was getting on that boat, even if it meant that Chris was going to drown.

"Don't worry, Nate, I think we can fit two more." Felix winked as Nathan begrudgingly set Chris back down on the ground.

"Scoot over fatso!" Chris exclaimed as he took a seat next to a large girl.

Nathan turned back to Haley and watched as a single tear fell from her eye. "Hey, don't cry." He comforted her as he pulled her in close for one last hug. "I'll see you soon." He assured her as he kissed her on the top of the head and ushered her into the boat.

Haley was full on crying when she found a seat next to Brooke who was also crying. She looked back at the boat, which looked similar to a log in a fire at this point, and saw both Nathan and Lucas standing on the deck with about 10 other guys, all waiting for the police boat to arrive to take them safely to shore.

As Felix started the emergency engine of the little blow up boat, one that had to be attached separately and Haley would hardly call effective, she felt like her whole world was being left behind on the yacht. Her best friend, the love of her life…

What the hell had started that fire anyway? It had to have had something to do with the fireworks… Her thoughts were interrupted by Brooke leaning onto her shoulder. Haley looked up to see both Peyton and Jake on the boat also.

"They're going to be ok, right Tutor Girl?" Brooke asked through puffy eyes and a pained expression. She was just hoping that Haley could give her some type of reassurance to calm the nauseating feeling that she had inside telling her that Lucas was never coming back.

"Yeah, of course they are." Haley choked out, more for her own good than Brooke's. She silently sent up a prayer to the starry night sky that was now littered with smoke… _God, please don't let anything happen to them…_


	36. Chapter 36

Hey guys! Your reviews were, once again, awesome. I can't thank you enough for replying to my writing. Anyway, I hope you like the next chapter...chapter 36.

_Disclaimer:_ Never ever will I own One Tree Hill.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 36**

"So I guess now we just have to wait." Lucas said sullenly as he leaned against the railing of the boat next to Nathan.

"Yeah, the police boat should be here any minute." Nathan watched as the small boat that held everything important in his life disappeared from view.

"You guys have to come see this!" Tim shouted from the other side of the boat. Nathan and Lucas hurriedly made their way over to him.

"What?" Nathan asked when he saw Tim standing next to a short light haired guy.

"This is Randy." Tim began.

"Tim! In case you haven't noticed, the damn boat's on fire!" Nathan snapped. Why was Tim introducing them to someone new now? Nathan didn't care about meeting someone knew, he cared about getting off this boat before the flames dismantled it.

"Yeah, I know." Tim defended himself. "That's why you have to see this. Randy was coming down the stairs when the upstairs caught on fire." He explained.

"Are you ok?" Lucas asked quickly.

"Was anyone else up there?" Nathan added.

"No, I was the last one." Randy said slowly. Obviously he was still traumatized by what happened as he descended that flight of stairs.

"Randy, show them your back!" Tim encouraged enthusiastically. Randy did as he was told and turned around so his back was facing Lucas and Nathan.

"Oh my God." Lucas whispered. There were holes burnt out of the back of his shirt and there was a large bald spot on his head where some of his hair had been singed off. "Are you ok, man?"

"Yeah, I stopped, dropped, and rolled." Randy said quietly as he turned back around to face them.

Nathan put a hand to his forehead. This could not be happening. This was supposed to be a fun night, his last night of vacation, but now he was stuck on a burning boat and he had to watch the girl he loved be taken away on a flimsy blow up boat. Who the hell knew if that thing was safe anyway? For a second, he contemplated whether or not sending her away was the best choice.

Suddenly, a piece of a metal railing fell from the upstairs and landed right in front of him. _No, sending her on that boat was a good idea._ He slowly bent down to pick it up, forgetting that this rod had fallen from the place that was on fire. "Shit!" He yelled when the metal came in contact with his hand. The piece of the railing had been so hot that after touching it for less than a second, his hand had been burnt to the point that it was throbbing.

"Oh, God, you're hand." Lucas said, noticing the situation and what probably happened to his hand. "Come here." He grabbed his brother by the arm and pulled him to the gate that the raft had left from just a few minutes ago.

Nathan looked at Lucas thankfully as he dipped his hand into the cool water. It wasn't until he felt the chilly water surrounding his hand that he realized how much he was sweating and how hot it was on the boat. "Thanks." He mumbled.

"No problem." Lucas replied in a low tone as he sat down next to Nathan. This was weird. They didn't even know how to have a conversation with each other, much less a formal statement of gratitude.

After about a minute of uncomfortable silence of both brothers listening to the cackle of the fire overhead, Lucas finally broke the ice. "So, I heard what you said to Haley."

Nathan continued to look down. Lucas was obviously talking about their "I love you's". He really wasn't in the mood for a lecture.

"Did you mean it?"

This time Nathan did look up at Lucas, taken a little off guard by the question. "Yeah." He said firmly but still in a soft voice. He wasn't being defensive, he was being honest.

Lucas just looked off into space, trying to decide whether or not to believe him. Nathan could see Lucas's doubts plainly plastered on his face and decided to go on. "Lucas, I know you don't believe me, but what you don't know how much I love the way she smiles at me when I do something nice, or how much I respect the way she always defends you, or how much it's killing me to not know where she is or if she's even safe right now." Nathan looked back out to the dark horizon, hoping to catch a small glimpse of the boat, just to assure himself that it hadn't deflated or anything.

"I understand." Lucas said quietly. "It's killing me to not be with Brooke right now too."

"What's that?" Nathan said loudly.

"I said it's killing me to not be with Brooke right now." Lucas repeated in a louder tone, slightly annoyed that all of a sudden, Nathan couldn't hear him.

"No, what's that over there?" Nathan clarified as he pointed into the distance to where a faint light could be seen. "Is that the police?"

"I don't know." Lucas sighed. He felt as if the temperature had just risen another 10 degrees. "I hope so."

Just then, a large crashing noise was heard as the entire roof caved in, sending a large gust of flames and heat outward toward the outermost railing where everyone was clustered along as they waited.

* * *

"Hurry! Turn the TV on!" Haley yelled as they entered their condo a half an hour after leaving the burning yacht. Surprisingly, Felix had done an acceptable job of guiding the boat safely back to the marina. She hurriedly opened her call phone and dialed Nathan's number again. He hadn't answered at all ever since she left… 

Both she and Brooke had wanted to stay at the marina and wait, but the police told them that the place was off limits because an investigation would soon begin and that they should go home and get some rest. He obviously didn't realize who was on the burning yacht or why they were determined to wait…

Brooke ran up to the TV and pressed the power button. Instantly, a news report on the situation was heard echoing through the room.

"The boat caught on fire after reportedly shooting fireworks off too close to its own deck." The newswoman said as she stood on a little boat with the small image of a fairly flat boat with flames overtaking it over her right shoulder.

"Oh my God! Is that the yacht?!" Brooke screamed in disbelief. It was so…flat.

"The police just recently pulled what is believed to be the only 12 people off the boat." The newswoman continued. "We are receiving reports that 5 of them are being taken to the hospital, two with very severe burns or injuries. The other 7 are being released with minor injuries. Another puzzling factor to this case is that…"

"Why won't Nathan answer his phone?!" Haley screamed in frustration as she plopped down on the couch next to Brooke.

"Lucas hasn't answered either." Brooke said grimly, never taking her eyes off of the TV. "You don't think they're…?"

"Brooke, no, they're fine." Haley said through her confident mask. On the inside she was asking that same question, and basically answering them in a very pessimistic manner.

Another 30 minutes later they were both dialing frantically at their cell phones, desperately trying to get a hold of someone, anyone, who could tell them where Lucas and Nathan were.

"I can't take this anymore." Haley stated through tears. "I'm going down there."

Brooke nodded in agreement through her own sobs as she ran ahead of Haley and threw open the door in order to get to her car as fast as possible. Maybe it was because she was so focused on getting back to the marina, or maybe it was because her tears were clouding her vision, but whatever the reason, Brooke ran right into the front of tall, very masculine figure.

"Lucas!" She screamed as she jumped up into his arms, almost giddy with excitement. Then all of a sudden she pulled back and slapped him hard across the face. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why didn't you call?" She sobbed as he just took her back into his arms.

Although Haley was extremely relieved to see her friend in the doorway, she noticed that something, or rather someone, was missing. "Luke, where's Nathan." She asked, choking back tears.

Before he could say anything in return, she hurried past him out into the hallway. She felt as though she was hit by a freight train when he wasn't out there, he wasn't right behind Lucas like he should be. She suddenly found it difficult to breathe as she frantically turned back to Lucas, her eyes demanding an explanation. "Where is he?"

Lucas turned to see that his best friend's face was flushed completely white and her eyes were red and puffy. "He was right behind me…"

Haley didn't understand what he was saying. Was he telling her that Nathan was behind him on the boat? Did something happen? Oh God, where was he?

Just as Lucas was preparing to speak up again to clarify what he meant by his earlier statement, footsteps were heard on the stairs behind them and Haley quickly turned around to see Nathan reach the top of the flight of stairs looking very exhausted.

She started sobbing uncontrollably as she made her way towards him and he pulled her in as close as she could possibly go. "Hey baby." He whispered into her ear, getting a tad bit emotional himself. He could feel a small lump forming in his throat as her tears quickly soaked onto his shirt and she buried her head deeper into his chest.

"Don't you dare ever do that again." She managed to get out as more and more tears kept flowing to her eyes. These tears were mainly of joy and relief, but were also being shed in a delayed reaction she was having to the overwhelming fear she had felt for him when she left him on the yacht.

"Shhh." He soothed as he gently ran his hand up and down her back. That's when she felt it. She instantly pulled away from him and grabbed the hand that had been rubbing her back.

"What happened?" She gasped as she looked at the brown bandage on his hand. Her eyes were wide as she looked up at him, waiting for his explanation.

"I touched a hot rod piece of a railing. It's no big deal." He said in an attempt to prevent the worrying that was sure to come next.

"Does it hurt? Did you get burned anywhere else? I knew I should have stayed on the boat with you, maybe I could of-"

Before she could continue her fretful rambling, he pulled her face to his in a sweet kiss to silence her. One last tear rolled down her cheek as she reached up to run her hand down his face as she returned his kiss.

The sound of a car backfiring interrupted them and sent her arms around his neck, grabbing onto him for dear life.

"A little jumpy, are we?" Nathan teased as she laid her head on his chest and his arms went securely around her waist.

"Can you blame me?" She whispered with a slight giggle. "I'm sorry, you're probably really tired…" she said as she looked up and noticed for the first time the slight bags that hung under his eyes.

"Yeah, but I can stay up-"

"No, you, um, you should get some sleep." She forced out. She really didn't want to leave him yet, it seemed like only moments ago she found out her boyfriend was alright and not lying in a hospital bed with third degree burns.

Giving in, he kissed her lightly on the top of the head. "I love you."

"I love you too." She said softly as he moved to turn around and head back to his condo. "Wait." She called in an even softer voice. She wasn't even sure he heard it until her turned around. "I thought I was ok, but I'm not." She admitted.

"Ok, well, what can I do to fix that?" He asked sincerely as he made his way back towards her.

"Please don't leave me." She pleaded. "You can stay in my room tonight. I just don't want to be alone." That was the truth, partially. The whole truth was that she didn't want to let him out of her sight. After the events of the night, she was absolutely terrified that something would happen to him the next time she closed her eyes.

"Ok." He soothed. He knew that what happened tonight had really freaked her out and he wanted to do everything he could to help her feel safe again.

They made their way into Haley's condo, noticing that Brooke and Lucas were already in his room with the door shut. They both took off their shoes and climbed into the bed, not even bothering to change into their pajamas because they were so tired.

Nathan slipped his arm around Haley's waist, pulling her close to him as her head rested on his arm, just like old times…

* * *

Dan woke up the next morning still inside of Dan Scott Motors. _I must have fallen asleep here last night._ He looked around and noticed that the TV was on, watching a live news report. On the screen, a large charred looking boat was being lifted out of the water by a crane and onto the grassy ground. Then, Dan remembered. 

_Tom is so stupid! _He still couldn't believe that Tom had been careless enough to actually aim the fireworks so close that they caught the whole boat on fire. _At least no one can trace this back to me…_

Suddenly, the phone rang on his desk and he jumped to pick it up. "Tom, you better have a good explanation."

"It's Deb, your wife." Deb said bitterly.

"Oh, what do you want?" Dan spat out.

"You know what Dan? I was calling because you didn't come home last night and I wanted to make sure that you were ok. Never mind, just forget I called." Deb retorted angrily. Dan always had a way of making her feel worthless.

"Deb, wait, I'm sorry. I'm just a little…preoccupied." Dan defended himself.

"You know what, Dan, you've been preoccupied a lot lately. And I think I know what it's about." Deb said sternly.

Dan instantly stiffened up. Did she know? "Deb, you have to realize that Tom shot off the fireworks so technically, I'm innocent."

"What are you talking about?" She said venomously. She was going to say he was preoccupied because of the state of their marriage, but it seemed like Dan had something bigger to explain.

"Nothing." Dan covered quickly.

"You said something about fireworks. I heard it!" She exclaimed. "Oh my God!" It had just hit her what had happened just the night before involving fireworks… no! He wouldn't! Would he? "Were you the reason for the fire on that boat?!" She yelled incredulously.

"No." He responded firmly. Over the years had become quite a good liar, but his lies never made it past his wife.

"You are a sick ass of a man!" Deb shouted. "Did you even know that our son was on that boat?!" As she gave her husband a verbal beating, she promptly took out her cell phone and texted her brother Cooper to call the police. Cooper lived just down the road from her and would no doubt do as she asked and turn her husband in. All she had to do was keep him on the phone until the cops got to the dealership.

"What? Nathan was on there? I swear I didn't know! Is he ok?" Dan yelled back.

"He's fine, he called me this morning. Not that you care."

"Come on, Deb, of course I care." He retorted.

"Really, because your heart was stone cold enough to set fire to a boat! A boat with kids on it! I cannot even believe that I'm married to a bastard like you!" She screamed. At this moment, she got a text back from Cooper saying that he called and the police were on their way there. She smiled smugly to herself as Dan started yelling vulgar comments into the phone.

A few minutes later, Dan was still in the middle of his rant when he heard a pounding on the dealership door. _Who the hell is that? _Dan wanted desperately to ignore the person on the other side of the door, but then he realized that this was his chance to get off the phone with his psycho wife. I mean, talk about nut cases…

"What do you want?" Dan said flatly as he opened the door, only to be greeted by a pair of police officers dressed on sleek navy uniforms.

"Mr. Scott, you are under arrest for attempted murder and arson. You have the right to remain silent…" The police officer promptly spun Dan around and slapped handcuffs onto his wrists.

"What so you think you're doing? You can't arrest me! There's no evidence!" Dan yelled in his own defense as the police officer walked him towards the car with shiny red and blue lights spinning around on the top.

"Actually, there is." The other one smiled, as he hung up his cell phone. "It seems that your wife recorded the conversation you had with her just moments ago."

Deb did this? Now he remembered how much he despised her. He had been wrong to waste his entire summer going after Haley James, the real target was right under his nose, sharing a bed with him. Dan let out a huffy breath as he was shoved into the police car. He wasn't going down without a fight…


	37. Chapter 37

Hello everyone. Thanks to everyone for the reviews. I love them all. So, this is the last chapter (tear). It's ok though, because I'm hoping to have the sequel started in a few days, so be on the lookout for that. :) I really hope that you have enjoyed this story and that it helped to bring a smile to your faces every now and then…anyway, without further ado, here's the last chapter.

_Disclaimer:_ One Tree Hill is not mine, but this story is.

_Summary:__ Nathan Scott is the most popular guy in school and Haley James is just an average girl who happens to be friends with Nathan's half-brother, Lucas. What happens when each of their groups of friends end up staying next door to each other all summer?_

**A Summer to Remember**

**Chapter 37**

Haley woke up the next morning to find that the other side of her bed was empty. She slowly sat up, thinking that Nathan must be in the bathroom or something, but was quickly filled with panic when she looked over and the bathroom door was open and the lights were off. Had she only dreamt that Nathan returned home safely last night?

Her heart was racing as she threw the blankets off of her and hurriedly made her way around the bed. She started to calm down a little after stumbling over Nathan's shoes. Good, now she knew she hadn't dreamt it and that Nathan was indeed safe, somewhere.

Suddenly, she heard muffled laughs coming from out in the kitchen through her partially closed door. It couldn't be who she thought it was, could it? She made her way over to the door and quietly opened it just enough for her to peek out. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at what she saw…Lucas and Nathan…together!

"Yeah, I was always partial to Leonardo." Lucas laughed. Haley instantly knew that they were talking about their favorite characters on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Lucas had been obsessed with the blue ninja turtle when they were growing up! He used to swing his little swords at her and tell her that if she didn't surrender and stop being evil, he would slice her up! He always stopped when Karen told him to though, or when she cried.

"Are you kidding? Raphael was the best." Nathan laughed.

"No way. You're delusional." Lucas joked. "Raphael was always losing his temper. Leonardo was the best one altogether."

"You're both wrong. Donatello was the smartest, and therefore, the best." Haley giggled as she emerged from the bedroom.

"I don't think so." Lucas mocked good-naturedly as Haley came up to them and took a seat on Nathan's lap.

"I'm is shock right now. Are you guys actually talking? Like, having a real conversation?" Haley smiled, obviously proud that her two favorite Scotts were getting along.

"Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself. We were arguing." Lucas corrected with a smile.

"Yes, but you were arguing like brothers, not like enemies." She pointed out as she laid her head against Nathan's shoulder and he brought his arms up to encircle her petite waist.

"Whatever you need to believe." Lucas joked as he turned around and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. "So, I think I'm going back into my room…I really don't need to see this." He pretended to cover his eyes when Haley kissed Nathan lightly on the cheek.

Haley started laughing when Lucas walked past them and back into his room. "Ok, so what was that about?"

"What?" Nathan asked innocently.

"You and Lucas, in the same room and not killing each other." She clarified with a large smile that illuminated her face. Maybe there was hope that in the future the brothers would be friends.

"I don't know." Nathan shrugged. "I just woke up this morning and he didn't hate me. It was kind of weird."

"Maybe he's finally seeing how cute you are." Haley suggested playfully.

"You know, I think that's it." Nathan responded sarcastically as he reached his hand up to her chin, gently tilting her face towards him. "Now that Lucas is gone, do I get a real good morning kiss?"

"I don't know, have you been good?" She asked coyly.

"I just talked to Lucas without rolling my eyes, didn't I?"

"You're right. That definitely deserves a reward." She slowly leaned in and captured his lips with her own in a soft and sweet kiss. At this moment, neither of them were thinking about the devastating events of the night before or the enormous task of moving out today, they were just enjoying each other's company. "I have a question." She stated suddenly, pulling back a little so she could look in his eyes.

"Ok, shoot." Nathan encouraged as he returned her gaze. Her eyes got significantly larger and her bottom lip stuck out in her famous puppy dog face. "Oh boy, how much is this going to cost me?" He joked.

"Nothing!" She defended. "I was just wondering if I could maybe ride home with you today, because Brooke has about twice as much luggage now as she did when we first got here because of her weekly shopping sprees, and I don't think there's room for both her stuff and me in the back seat of Lucas's Jeep."

Nathan laughed a little at her question. "Of course you can."

"Thanks. You're officially my favorite boyfriend." She said matter-of-factly.

"Haley, I'm your only boyfriend." He pointed out with a chuckle. She could be so weird sometimes, but that's why he loved her.

"Who told you that?" She asked playfully. Nathan face turned into a fake pout at her words. "But you don't have to worry about the other ones, because, like I said, you're my favorite." She leaned down to kiss him again, but was interrupted by Brooke bursting through the door to Lucas's room in nothing but an oversized T-Shirt.

"Tutor girl and boy, please don't suck face right now because I have a really big problem." She said loudly.

"What is it, Brooke?" Haley groaned as she turned around just enough to send her friend an evil glare. "If this is about a shrunken shirt again, I will be seriously mad at you."

"It's not about a shrunken shirt; it's about all my shirts! Lucas said that there's not going to be enough space in the car for all my stuff!" Brooke huffed as she collapsed onto the couch.

Haley looked back to Nathan and gave him a playful wink. "You know, Brooke, I could just ride home with Nathan." She offered sweetly as the brunette popped her head up from the couch, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as if contemplating the idea.

"No." She answered finally. "I don't want to make you do that…"

"It's really no trouble at all." Haley assured her. "You guys will probably making out every time you make a stop somewhere anyway and I don't want to be a third wheel."

"True." Brooke giggled giddily; she did love to make out with Lucas. "Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Absolutely not. And Nathan doesn't mind driving me, do you?"

Both girls turned to face him and he felt a small laugh threatening to escape. Did he have a choice of what to answer? "Not at all."

"Great!" Brooke clapped her hands excitedly. "Lucas!" She yelled, "There is too room for all my stuff!"

* * *

"Peyton," Nathan called as he entered his own condo later that morning. 

Peyton stopped packing cans of Coke into a cooler upon hearing his voice and quickly ran up to him, pulling him into a giant bear hug. "I'm so glad you're ok."

"You too. So you and Jake made it back safely I see." He laughed as he left her embrace and grabbed one of the cokes out of the cooler.

"Yeah, thanks for the text by the way. Even if it was at, what, 2:30 in the morning?"

Nathan just smiled. He had woken up in the middle of the night last night and remembered that he never called Peyton. Knowing her, and how much she was probably worrying, he had decided to send her a text message. His phone was out of batteries at the time, so he used Haley's. "My bad, I forgot what time it was."

"No, it's fine. We were both happy to hear from you." Peyton assured him. "How's Haley doing? She seemed pretty freaked out last night on the boat."

"Yeah, she was a little shaken up, but I think she's pretty good now." Nathan automatically stared at the door when he spoke of Haley, knowing that she was right across the hall, probably packing the last of her things as they spoke. "She's riding home with us today."

"Oh, that's great. Now I don't have to listen to you and Tim talk about sports the whole time again." Peyton said cheerfully.

Nathan noticed a certain perkiness in her voice that he wasn't used to hearing. "What exactly is going on with you and Jake, anyway?" He questioned, changing the subject.

"What do you mean?" She smiled as she turned back to the cooler that she had previously been diligently packing.

"I mean, he lives here, and you live in Tree Hill." Nathan clarified. "Are you going to try to make it work?"

"We're going to try." Her face was radiant with joy. Almost the whole summer she had been holding back from Jake, not wanting to get too close, because she knew she was going to have to leave eventually. But last night, Jake had told her that he didn't mind giving the long distance thing a try if it meant being with her. In all reality, Tree Hill was only a good hour from the beach anyway…

"That's great, Peyton." Nathan said sincerely. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he saw her as happy as she was with Jake.

"Yeah…Don't you have some major packing to do? We're leaving in like 2 hours and you still have clothes all over your floor." She pointed out as she closed the cooler and began wiping down the countertop from the melted ice that had escaped onto it.

"Yeah, I should probably start that..." Nathan laughed. He made his way over to the room that had been his for the last 3 months. It was only then that he realized how much had changed over the course of the summer. Unlike when he first arrived, he now had deeper respect for his brother, he had learned discipline from Whitey, and most importantly, he now had the girl he loved beside him.

Speaking of, how fun was it going to be going back to school and seeing the looks on everyone's faces when they found out that they were together? Nathan was sure that it would be a shock, but nevertheless, accepted. That was the good thing about being the king of the school, nobody dared to go against anything you did or said.

He fished his hand around under the bed and found the basketball shorts he had been missing all summer. _So that's where they were._ He bravely put his hand back under the bed until there were no items left underneath it. He sloppily threw all of his clothes into his large duffel bag and then moved about the room looking for anything he might have left behind.

Nathan then looked at the clock. Packing only took him about 10 minutes, why did girls need so much more time? It was just unnecessary.

* * *

"I'm telling you, Deb fabricated the whole thing." Dan said simply as he spoke directly to the chief of police in Tree Hill. This dude was not cracking. Dan had tried every trick he could think of. He claimed temporary insanity, he claimed he had been drugged, and now he was claiming that Deb made it all up, but somehow this guy wouldn't budge. 

"Mr. Scott, can you please tell us why you had a man shoot fireworks onto a boat?" The police chief asked in an agitated voice. They had asked Dan this question 4 times already and each time, he came up with a way to change the subject.

"I'm not saying anything until my lawyer is present." Dan said as he stuck his nose in the air like a second grader.

"I am present, Dan." His lawyer spoke up from the corner of the room.

"You see, I didn't even know it. I'm telling you, I'm insane!" Dan yelled.

"Nathan, I need to tell you something, it's about your father." Deb said in a hushed tone as she watched Dan through a one way mirror.

"Ok, what is it?" Nathan asked as he picked up his toothbrush and threw it into his duffel bag.

"He's in jail." She responded bluntly.

"What? Why?" Nathan didn't really care if Dan went to jail or not, but he was interested in hearing the reason behind it.

"The fire on the yacht last night, Nate, that wasn't an accident. Well, it was an accident, but it was your father's fault that the accident happened."

Nathan let out a long breath. It was Dan. He should have known. This information really didn't surprise him at all. Dan was the reason that he, Haley, and many other people could have died last night. _Wow, he deserves the father of the year award…_

"He's in jail now, and chances are, he'll get a good long sentence. So please don't get too worried over him, he can't hurt you anymore." Deb pleaded. She didn't want to see her son possessed with the same hate that Dan harbored for many people around him.

Nathan looked up as Haley walked into his condo and closed the door behind her. "Mom, I've got to go. Can we talk about this when I get home?"

"Sure sweetie. I'll see you soon." Deb hung up the phone as Nathan did the same.

"Hey." Haley smiled. "I was just wondering if you want me to take my stuff down to the car yet."

"Um, no, I'll get it for you…" Nathan trailed off, trying to decide when it would be best to tell her. He decided that the sooner the better since she would probably find out from the news anyway.

"What is it?" She asked, noticing the way his brow furrowed and his eyes got that far away look.

"What is what?"

"What is what you're thinking?" She laughed.

He paused for a few moments before moving on. "My dad's in jail."

"What? Why?" Haley was astonished to hear this. Why would Dan be in jail?

"He was responsible for the fire last night." Nathan said shortly, watching her face for her reaction.

Haley's eyes grew in disbelief. "What? Your dad?" Nathan nodded his head. "Oh, Nathan I'm so sorry." She quickly made her way over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

_Sorry?_ He wasn't exactly expecting that reaction.

"I know this must be hard for you." She explained. "I can't even imagine how you must feel right now."

"Actually, I'm fine with it." Nathan said honestly. "At least now he'll be away from me and anyone else he could hurt."

"That's kind-of how I feel." Haley admitted. "I mean, now he'll be somewhere where he can't hurt himself or others."

Nathan smiled a little to himself. It amazed him that she wasn't mad at Dan or scared by him, she was almost forgiving. He was mad, hell, he was furious, but he agreed with her. It was over; Dan was in jail and could never stick his nose where it didn't belong again.

* * *

"Where's Nathan? Aren't we supposed to leave now?" Tim whined as he stuffed his pillow into the trunk of Nathan's SUV. 

"He had to run back up and get Haley's bags. And Haley." Peyton answered as she added her own suitcase to the trunk.

"Why is Haley coming with us again?" Tim asked as he stared off into space.

A small giggle was heard over by Lucas's Jeep and both Tim and Peyton turned to see Brooke and Lucas full on making out. "That's why." Peyton laughed as she got into the back seat. She had graciously offered Haley her front seat so that she didn't have to suffer in the back with Tim. At least Peyton knew how to handle him.

"Are you guys ready?" Nathan asked as he came up behind them carrying Haley's larger bag. As they nodded, he put her bag into the trunk on top of Peyton's and then grabbed the smaller one from Haley's hands and dropped it in as well.

"Are you sure you're ok to drive?" Haley asked skeptically upon noticing the brown bandage on his hand again.

"I told you, it doesn't even hurt." Nathan defended himself.

"Are you sure? Because I can drive if you-"

"No." He said with a smile. "I'm fine."

"Great, then let's go." She quickly pecked him on the lips before getting into the passenger seat. The other three followed suit and moments later they were pulling out of the parking lot, Lucas and Brooke following close behind.

Haley watched as the place that she had called home for the entire summer faded into the distance. She thought that she would feel sad upon leaving, and she did, but not nearly as sad as she thought she would. Although summer was over, it felt like her life was just beginning. She felt a strange sense of calm take over her as she thought about the guy sitting next to her. Her guy. It almost made her laugh that at the beginning of the summer, she couldn't stand him, and now, she was head over heels in love with him…fate can be so ironic sometimes.

Nathan glanced over to see Haley concentrating on looking at the ocean as it faded away. He couldn't help but smile. He wasn't even thinking about Dan, or even about the events of the previous night, all of those thoughts seemed to vanish every time he looked at her. This summer, he had learned so much; how to escape a burning boat, how not to spray paint grass, how to get extra syrup from a nerdy guy at IHOP. But most importantly, he had learned to love.

Every one of the teenagers had changed somewhat that summer, with the exception maybe of Tim, and all changes were for the better. There were many bad memories that came with the past 3 months, but the good ones far outweighed the bad. Their experiences were all different, but one thing that they could all agree on was that this had been one hell of a summer to remember.

**The End**


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